Members of Hyderabad-based political party All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), on Friday, submitted a representation to the Telangana minister for animal husbandry, fisheries, and cinematography Talasani Srinivas Yadav, demanding the removal of “objectionable content” from the poster of the Tamil-Telugu film FIR.
FIR starring Vishnu Vishal in the lead role was released in theatres in Tamil and Telugu, on Friday. The action thriller film is produced by the actor as well. The director of the film, Manu Anand, earlier told Silverscreen India that the film revolves around a Muslim protagonist from Triplicane in Chennai. The film also stars Gautham Vasudev Menon, Manjima Mohan, Raiza Wilson, and Reba Monica John, among others in pivotal roles.
On Friday, MLAs from the AIMIM party, Syed Ahmed Pasha Quadri, Jaffar Hussain Meraj, and Kausar Mohiuddin, met Yadav and handed over their complaint about the film’s poster. In the letter, party members said “I would like to direct your attention the film poster of the movie “FIR” (distributed by Abhishek Pictures, produced by ‘VV Studioz’). The poster contains the shahadah in Arabic. The shahadah (la ilaha illa llah, muhammadur rasula llah) is an integral part of Islam and is one of the pillars of Islam. By presenting it in promotional film poster, the makers of the film have offended the sentiments of Muslims. Such a representation demeans Islam and its tenets.” Pointing out that the Shahadah is considered to be an Islamic oath, the party also handed over a copy of the film’s poster containing the content in question in the background, along with their complaint, to the minister.
The letter further requested the state government to take necessary action under Section 8 of the Telangana Cinema (Regulation) Act, 1955. “The action may be taken till such time that all objectionable content in the film as well as in promotional material of the film is removed. This is essential to protect the state’s public order and harmony,” the letter concluded.
The makers have not commented on the issue yet.
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It is to be noted that recently, the makers of Navarasa, Netflix‘s Tamil anthology, were called out for a newspaper advertisement for one of the segements titled Inmai that featured a verse from the Quran. Referring to the advertisement, Raza Academy, a ‘Sunni Barelvi organization of Indian Sunni Muslims that promotes Islamic beliefs through publications and research’, condemned Netflix for publishing the verse in a newspaper advertisement. They called the action an “insult” to The Quran and demanded a ban on Netflix and Daily Thanthi newspaper that published the advertisement.