Do not feel safe anywhere at this moment: Leena Manimekalai on 'Kaali' row
New Delhi, Jul 7: At the centre of a huge storm over her documentary "Kaali", Leena Manimekalai on Thursday said she does not feel safe "anywhere at this moment".
The filmmaker is facing several FIRs following outrage over the poster of Kaali showing the goddess smoking and holding an LGBTQ flag.
"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," Manimekalai wrote while tagging The Guardian and sharing an interview she has given to the British newspaper.
Since the controversy began last week, Manimekalai, her family and collaborators have received threats from more than 200,000 accounts online, she said.
The Toronto-based director described the online vitriol as a "grand-scale mass lynching" by rightwing Hindu groups.
In her interview to The Guardian, she dismissed claims that her film is disrespectful to the goddess or to Hinduism. She said she had been raised as a Hindu in Tamil Nadu but is now an atheist.
"In 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," she said.
"I have all rights to take back my culture, traditions and texts from the fundamentalist elements. These trolls have nothing to do with religion or faith," she added.
Two separate FIRs have been registered against Manimekalai in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. On Wednesday, two additional cases were filed against her in Bhopal and Ratlam.
Manimekalai is not the only one to face police cases following the controversy. FIRs have also been filed against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra for allegedly hurting religious feelings with her comments about the goddess.
On Monday, when asked about the controversy over the Kaali poster, Moitra said she has every right as "an individual to imagine Goddess Kali as a meat-eating and alcohol-accepting goddess". Every person has the right to worship gods and goddesses in his or her own way, she said.
Twitter has pulled down Manimekalai's tweet from last week in which she shared the poster of the documentary. It was replaced by a message from Twitter that read, "This Tweet from @LeenaManimekali has been withheld in India in response to a legal demand."
The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto that was supposed to show Kaali at an event expressed regret and has removed the documentary from its list of films being presented.
Kaali" was showcased as part of the 'Under the Tent' project at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto.
“It feels like the whole nation – that has now deteriorated from the largest democracy to the largest hate machine – wants to censor me,” said Manimekalai. “I do not feel safe anywhere at this moment.”
— Leena Manimekalai (@LeenaManimekali) July 7, 2022
@guardiannews https://t.co/WsK2hWdW96
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
