After Twitter takes down her ‘Kaali’ post, Meena Manimekalai posts another controversial photo

Mumbai (Maharashtra): Leena Manimekalai sure shows that she is a true artist as she refuses to budge in front of an array of netizens who are criticizing her art. The filmmaker became a subject of hate after she released the poster of her independent art film, ‘Kaali’ depicting the named goddess smoking a cigarette with the LGBTQIA+ flag in the background. After the hashtag #arrestleenamanimekalai started trending on the social media platform, Twitter took down the post where she also expressed her joy on presenting her film at the Toronto Film Festival.

However, Leena has posted another picture showcasing two individuals dressed as Hindu gods Shiva and Parvati smoking a cigarette with the caption, “Elsewhere…”.

Elsewhere…. pic.twitter.com/NGYFETMehj

— Leena Manimekalai (@LeenaManimekali) July 7, 2022

The filmmaker has been vocal about her opinions on the way people view her art and even went ahead to call them a “payrolled troll army”. She further wrote, “This is not from my film.This is from everyday rural India that these sangh parivars want to destroy with their relentless hate & religious bigotry.”

After receiving several death threats, Leena also vocalized that the trolls are after her artistic freedom. “If I give away my freedom fearing this mindless rightwing mob mafia, I will give away everyone’s freedom. So I will keep it, come what may,” she wrote.

Talking to BBC Tamil, she also expressed her views on what she looks at Kaali as. Leena said, “As far as I am concerned, "Kaali" is an ambitious, unbridled, primordial being who tramples on all that is considered monstrous, and who chops off all the heads of evil. Kali is a film that shows what would happen if such a person got inside me for an evening and crawled the streets of Toronto. My Kaali believes in love and sharing. She accepts the cigarette from a Black street dweller at a park around Kensington market in Toronto and listens to reggae.”