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Netflix pulls Indian cooking drama, Annapoorani: The Goddess of Food, after religious backlash that ‘hurt Hindu sentiments’
- Netflix on Thursday pulled the film after a backlash from Hindu activists for its depictions of meat-eating and inter-religious romance
- The second-most watched Netflix feature in India before its removal, centres on the daughter of a Hindu priest who aspires to become the country’s top chef
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A popular newly released Indian film was pulled from Netflix on Thursday after a backlash from Hindu activists for its depictions of meat-eating and inter-religious romance.
Annapoorani: The Goddess of Food was taken down just weeks after its premiere in the latest instance of digital entertainment platforms in India canning controversial projects.
The film, which was the second-most watched Netflix feature in India the day before its removal, centres on the daughter of a Hindu priest who aspires to become the country’s top chef.
In the process, she abandons the strict vegetarianism of her upbringing – controversial because many upper-caste Hindus abstain from eating meat.
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A Muslim classmate helps her navigate the challenges of her cutthroat culinary school, and the pair eventually fall in love, transcending India’s most fraught religious divide.
One affronted activist went as far as filing a police complaint last week alleging that the film promoted “love jihad” – a derogatory term coined by Hindu nationalists who accuse Muslim men of marrying Hindu women and forcing them to convert.
Ramesh Solanki, who filed the complaint, said on X that Netflix and co-producer Zee Studios had “deliberately made this film … to hurt Hindu sentiments” and asked police to prosecute the film’s main stars.
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