Even as the row over recently released Kannada film Kantara goes on, a fresh row was triggered by another film from the industry, Head Bush, which has allegedly hurt religious sentiments through its depiction of folk art form Veeraghase and the Karaga utsava that happens in Bengaluru every year.
Members of the Karaga Utsava Samithi in the Karnataka capital said the movie had derogatory dialogues about the Karaga festival and the priest of Sri Dharmarayaswamy Temple, Shivashankar, The Indian Express reported. While demanding that some scenes of the movie be re-shot, they said they would also file a complaint with the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce in this regard.
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Netizens flooded Twitter with a call to boycott the movie, while many came in support of the film’s lead actor Dhananjaya, who was targeted for his supposedly liberal views. After back-to-back controversies with Kantara and Head Bush, a Twitter user recalled a scene from Rakshit Shetty’s Ulidavaru Kandante, which featured the culture and practices of Tulu Nadu, and said a movie should be watched for entertainment purposes and not be seen through political lens.
“In #UlidavaruKandante movie there’s a scene where Christian is seen beating a man who’s in Hulivesha, which is part of Hindu culture. I wonder why no one questioned, isn’t this disrespectful to our religion,” he tweeted.
Others questioned the lack of support coming in from the Kannada film industry. “No prizes for guessing the reason behind KFI’s top stars conspicuous silence over the #HeadBush fiasco. Well, the stakes are pretty high for them to take on the eco system that’s on a rampage to decimate people who don’t fall in line. What a sorry state of affairs #Anarchy,” a netizen wrote.
Actor Dhananjaya also put out a statement clarifying his stand on the issue. “I myself am a devotee of Veerabhadraswamy and have ensured that there is no element of insult to Viragasa. I request the detractors to please watch the movie and review it thoroughly. #HeadBush,” he posted.
Fans of the actor also started a trend, #WeStandWithDhananjaya, and posted supportive messages.
Fellow actor Chetan Kumar, who was caught up in his own controversy after his remarks about the tradition of ‘Bhoota Kola’, spoke in favour of creative liberties, tweeting, “Having seen ‘Head Bush’, current demands to cut portions of movie as they may be so-called ‘offensive’ to certain sections goes against creative liberties. A film—after receiving censor board permission—must be given freedom to portray Disagreement is democratic; threats are not.”
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Head Bush‘s lead, Dhananjaya was quoted as saying that he will have to think twice about being part of scripts that may create controversies in the future. “As artists, we always try to stay away from controversies, so we will also consciously try to stay away from such films,” Dhananjaya told the Bangalore Times.
