Under attack for a poster of her documentary Kaali showing the goddess smoking and holding an LGBTQ flag, filmmaker Leena Manimekalai remained defiant despite a series of FIRs registered against her and death threats.
In her latest tweet, the filmmaker, posting an interview that she gave to to a news portal, said her “Kaali is queer.”
She said, "“When I embody Kaali, I am Kaali myself. My Kaali is queer. She is a free spirit. She spits at the patriarchy. She dismantles Hindutva. She destroys capitalism."
Amid allegations that the poster had hurt religious sentiments, she said, Kaali "embraces everyone with all her thousand hands.”
Following the controversy, Twitter had pulled down Manimekalai's tweet about her documentary.
Delhi Police and the Uttar Pradesh Police filed separate FIRs against Manimekalai over the controversial poster.
Besides, the Indian High Commission in Ottawa had urged the Canadian authorities to take down all "provocative material" related to the film after it received complaints from leaders of the Hindu community in Canada about the "disrespectful depiction" of Hindu gods.
—With PTI inputs
