Malayalam actress Priya Prakash Varrier turned into an overnight internet sensation with a wink but has now landed in trouble. A group of people have reportedly filed a complaint against Priya and the song Manikya Malaraya Puvi from Oru Adaar Love claiming that it hurts the sentiments of Muslims, News 18 reports.
According to the report the complaint has been filed by a group of Muslim youth with Falaknuma police station in Hyderabad. The youth claimed that the song, when translated into English, allegedly insults the Prophet and they want action to be taken against the video. The police are yet to file an FIR.
We received complaint from a few men that upcoming movie Manikya Malaraya Poovi’s viral song's lyrics is hurting sentiments of Muslims. They haven't submitted a video proof & we asked them to provide us the same. No FIR registered yet: Syed Faiyaz, ACP Falaknuma #Hyderabad pic.twitter.com/T88uBGs3kJ
— ANI (@ANI) February 14, 2018
Speaking to Times Now, one of the complainants Muqeeth Khan said, "After listening to the song, I went for the translation of the lyrics. The translation is about our Prophet."
Khan also explained that a boy and girl are seen romancing with the name of the prophet played in the background. He added he attempted to exercise his freedom of speech and thus filed the complaint. But he also said that he had nothing against the movie, the actor or the song itself.
Muqeeth Khan, complainant against the Priya Varrier song, speaks to TIMES NOW pic.twitter.com/y3FShaFOf3
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) February 14, 2018
Explaining his stand on the case, director Omar Lulu, told Scroll.in that Manikya Malaraya Poovi means "a pearl flower that is very precious". He explained that the song talks of the love story between Prophet Mohammad and his first wife.
"People around the country, or rather around the world, are loving it," Lulu said. "But there has been some opposition from some old Muslims in the community. They feel that a love song that is about the Prophet Muhammad and his wife in a film is insulting to Islam. But these people are in a small minority."
While the news about the backlash from Muslims in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana made headlines today, a group of people in Kerala had planned a protest against the movie earlier this week.
A group of Hindus are calling for the movie's boycott on Facebook. An event is being organised in Thiruvananthapuram's Shankumugham Beach to protest against Oru Adaar Love. The protest is called Durga Vahini's March Against 'Oru Adar Love.'
"When Hinduism is going to outer space, these kind of regressive ideas are not a good ideal for our youth. More importantly, films like these are an embarrassment to Indian culture. So we request all men and women to come join the Durga Vahini's march protesting against the movie, Oru Adaar Love," the event loosely translates.
Priya shot to fame after a short clip of her winking went viral over the weekend. Explaining how the moment came together, Priya revealed it was a spontaneous effort.
Speaking to NDTV, Priya said, "Actually, the director wanted to capture something cute between me and my hero. So, he told me if I can do the eyebrow thing and wink at him. I told him that I could give it a try. That's how it worked out. It was spontaneous and we hadn't planned anything."
The Malayalam actress marks her debut in the Omar Lulu directorial along with several other newcomers.
The movie's first trailer was out last evening wherein fans of the internet sensation got to see more of the "winking girl" than they previously saw in the popular song released over the weekend.
Here's the trailer:
