The Goddess of Food(Annapoorani) movie directed by Nilesh Krishnaa centres around a story of a Brahmin family where the daughter of a temple cook who goes against her family’s tradition and cooks non-vegetarian dish to prove that she’s a talented chef.
The movie streamed on Netflix after its theatrical release on December 1, 2023.
Days after the movie was uploaded on the platform of Netflix, several scenes from it made it online and many people alleged that the film spreads anti-Hindu sentiments and promotes religious conversion.
The 3 scenes that have raised massive controversy online are:
1. A brahmin girl (daughter of a temple priest/cook) while passing by a meat shop is shown liking the smell of non-vegetarian food.
2. In a scene, a man is seen telling Nayanthara’s character that Valmiki has mentioned in Ramayana how Ram, Sita and Lakshman hunted animals and ate them when they were hungry.
3. Before preparing Biryani for a cooking competition, Nayanthara’s character of a Brahmin girl is also shown practicing namaz wearing a hijab and ends up winning the competition.
Several social media users condemned the director, producers and actors of the movie.
A complaint was registered against the team along with the Nayanthara after which Zee Studios, the co-producers, issued an apology and the movie has now been pulled from Netflix.
In its apology letter, Zee Studious wrote, “We have no intentions as co-producers of the film to hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus and Brahmins community and would like to hereby apologise for the inconvenience caused and hurt caused to the sentiments of the respective communities.”
