How Leena Manimekalai defends her Kaali poster

Leena Manimekalai has tweeted that trolls are after her artistic freedom, and she won’t give it away because then it would mean giving away everyone’s freedom. Leena is facing online backlash and an FIR, for her film poster, Kaali. The poster showed the Hindu Goddess Kaali smoking a cigarette. A flag of the LGBT community is seen in the background. (Also read: Kaali movie organisers apologise after uproar over ‘offensive’ poster)

She shared a tweet by author Mira Kamdar and wrote, ““These trolls are after my artistic freedom. If I give away my freedom fearing this mindless rightwing mob mafia, I will give away everyone’s freedom. So I will keep it, come what may.”

A poster for a documentary by Leena sparked strong reactions and she has been accused of hurting religious sentiments. Leena was born in Tamil Nadu’s Madurai and is based in Toronto.

Speaking with The Guardian, Leena also said, “It feels like the whole nation – that has now deteriorated from the largest democracy to the largest hate machine – wants to censor me. I do not feel safe anywhere at this moment.”

She also defended her poster to t and said, “In rural Tamil Nadu, the state I come from, Kaali is believed to be a pagan goddess. She eats meat cooked in goat’s blood, drinks arrack, smokes beedi [cigarettes] and dances wild … that is the Kaali I had embodied for the film. I have all rights to take back my culture, traditions and texts from the fundamentalist elements,” she said. “These trolls have nothing to do with religion or faith.”

The poster was removed by Twitter India. Responding to the development, Leena had tweeted, “This is hilarous. Will @TwitterIndia withhold the tweets of the 200000 hate mongers?! These lowlife trolls tweeted and spread the very same poster that they find objectionable. Kaali cannot be lynched. Kaali cannot be raped. Kaali cannot be destroyed. She is the goddess of death.”