Chennai: Hours after making private the trailer of web series Godman following protests from various quarters for demeaning Brahmins and their faith, the makers muted a few dialogues and re-released the trailer much to the agony of Hindus.
The web series Godman
features Daniel Balaji, who will be making his digital debut soon. It is directed by Babu Yogeshwaran, who earlier helmed Jayam Ravi’s Daas and is currently directing Vijay Antony’s Tamizharasan.
Apart from Daniel Balaji, Godman will also star Sonia Agarwal and Jayaprakash. Produced by Ilango Raghupathy, the series will premiere on Zee 5 from 12 July.
The trailer features Jayaprakash as Hindu saint speaking ill of Brahmins and there were plenty of voyeuristic scenes. Soon after the trailer was out, several people registered their opposition to it on social media. Members of Thamizhnadu Brahmin Association wrote a letter to the Chief Minister’s Cell seeking the trailer to be banned.
Speaking to News Today, Jayam JSK Gopi of Hindu Religious Party, said, ‘It is an blatant attempt to demean Hindu faith. We are not soft targets. Complaints will be lodged in appropriate legal forums’.
Gopi said such attempts to spread hatred against one particular community needs to be condemned. ‘Is this what secularism is? Tamilnadu government should stop the web series from going on air’.
Balaji, a temple priest in Nanganallur, says, ‘It has hurt our sentiments. All are equal before God. But to repeatedly make fun of us in cinema and small screen should be stopped. There should be unity among all of us to fight this.
Meanwhile, Zee5 has not responded to protests officially. A psychologist Dr Meera, says, ‘It is very dangerous. There are many explicit scenes in it. Imagine kids who use cellphones today will get an opportunity to watch it. The government should monitor the OTT platforms and make sure no porn is made available to children’.