‘L2: Empuraan’ makers to alter scenes resembling Gujarat riots after Hindutva outrage

The producers of the Malayalam-language film L2: Empuraan are planning to make over 17 “voluntary modifications” to its cut after outrage from Hindutva groups over the movie’s portayal of communal violence, which closely resembles the 2002 Gujarat riots, The News Minute reported.

The film stars actor Mohanlal and is directed by Prithviraj Sukumaran.

“There is provision for voluntary modification of a film already certified by the Censor Board,” The Indian Express quoted an unidentified official from the censor board’s regional office in Thiruvananthapuram as saying. “They have approached the board and, normally, we allow voluntary modifications in a film already ratified by the board. What all modifications have to be made is up to their discretion.”

More than 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, were killed in the communal riots that erupted in Gujarat in February and March of 2002 after a coach of Sabarmati Express carrying Hindu pilgrims from Ayodhya was burnt in Godhra town in the state. Fifty-nine persons died in the incident on February 27, 2002.

The title sequence of L2: Empuraan is ostensibly based on the Godhra train incident. The opening scenes also depict subsequent mob violence in which several Muslims are killed. Some scenes also seem to allude to the gangrape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of her family during the riots, The Hindu...

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