Recently, the Tamil movie ‘Annapoorani’: The Goddess of Food created a lot of trouble for its main actor, Nayanthara. People accused the film of upsetting religious feelings. The movie tells the story of a girl from a traditional Hindu Brahmin family who wants to be a chef. Unfortunately, it received criticism for supposedly disrespecting Hindu sentiments, with claims of promoting ‘love jihad’ and disrespecting Lord Ram.
From the very beginning of Annapoorani, the movie shows that its main character, Nayanthara, has an extraordinary talent for cooking. She’s had an exceptional sense of taste since birth. Annapoorani’s father, Rangarajan, is deeply devoted to Lord Ranganathar and has chosen to serve food to God instead of taking a job in the railways. When Annapoorani expresses her desire to become a chef, she faces resistance. The question arises: Can a girl from a family dedicated to serving pure vegetarian food to God cook ‘impure’ non-vegetarian dishes? The film was released in theaters on December 1 and later on Netflix on December 29.
After the controversy, Nayanthara apologized on Instagram, recognizing the unintended impact of her film on some communities. She expressed regret for unintentionally causing hurt and the unexpected removal of the film from the OTT platform.
Following an FIR against the film, Nayanthara apologized as it led to the removal of the movie from Netflix. She clarified that neither she nor her team intended to hurt sentiments and emphasized her faith in God, highlighting her visits to temples. Nayanthara explained that ‘Annapoorani’ aimed to uplift and inspire, not cause distress. Her two-decade journey in the film industry focused on spreading positivity and learning from each other.
The movie had a successful run in theaters, but it faced issues when it became available online. FIRs and claims of upsetting Hindu sentiments led to the movie being removed from Netflix. This shifted its path from a expected streaming success to a controversial subject.
