KGF-inspired gun-toting Ganpati idol for Ganesh Chaturthi divides Twitter: ‘But why a criminal’

This year, the flavour of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival is idols inspired by popular movies from the past 12 months. First, fan clubs shared pictures of Ganpati idols inspired by Ram Charan and Jr NTR’s looks in RRR. Then came a Pushpa-inspired Lord Ganesha idol that imitated Allu Arjun’s signature style from the film. Now, a picture has surfaced showing a Ganpati idol imitating Yash’s Rocky from the hit Kannada film KGF: Chapter 2. However, the violent imagery and interpretation of this one has not been appreciated by everyone. Also read: Ram Charan’s RRR look inspires Ganpati idols for Ganesh Chaturthi

On Wednesday, pictures of the Ganpati idol inspired by KGF started doing the rounds on social media. In the pictures, Lord Ganesha was dressed in the signature white pinstriped suit Yash’s Rocky wears in the film, while manning a heavy machine gun. The imagery is similar to a popular scene from the film where Rocky intimidates cops at a police station by destroying their vehicles with the gun. The idol also had KGF 2 written at the bottom.

However, not everyone was happy with using a violent imagery for the festival and also using Rocky as inspiration for the deity. In KGF 1 and 2, Rocky is a smuggler, who ascends to the throne of an illegal gold-mining empire. One social media user posted the picture and tweeted, “Y’all are okay to see Ganpati as a smuggler and a criminal?” Another wrote, “I get the films are popular but why show Ganpati as a criminal?” Another tweet read, “I didn’t like Ganpati in Pushpa or KGF avatar.”

Earlier, similar idols inspired by actors from RRR and Pushpa: The Rise had also been made. Fans had made similar concerns about the Pushpa-inspired idol as well since in the film, Allu Arjun’s Puhspa Raj is also a smuggler. Ganesh Chaturthi is a popular festival across India, with huge pandals in the state of Maharashtra, from where several of the film-inspired idols have been reported. RRR-inspired idols, meanwhile have been made in Delhi as well.

KGF: Chapter 2 is one of the most successful Indian films of all time and the highest-grossing Kannada film in history. The film earned ₹1250 crore globally, more than five times any other Kannada film ever. The Prashanth Neel film released on April 14 this year and apart from Yash, also starred Srinidhi Shetty, Sanjay Dutt, and Raveena Tandon.