L2 Empuraan controversy: Tamil Nadu politicians Vaiko, O Panneerselvam demand new edits, call for ban

Certain Tamil Nadu politicians have taken offence to a subplot in the film featuring a dam in Nedumpally. Rajya Sabha MP Vaiko, the general secretary of MDMK, connected the parallels drawn between the fictional Nedumpally dam and the real Mullai Periyar dam, which has been a contentious issue between both the states.

In Empuraan, there is a dialogue alluding to how this dam was built after the Travancore King was forced to lease the land to the British for 999 years. Pointing out these parallels, Vaiko said that such scenes can create discord between people of both states. He called for a ban on Empuraan if the controversial scenes and dialogues aren’t edited out.

Joining him in his stand, former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam also called for Empuraan to go under the edit table once again. In a statement, Panneerselvam, who represents the district of Theni, which receives water from the dam for its livelihood and sustenance, said that some farmers from his constituency had complained to him about the ‘misrepresentation of facts’ in Empuraan. He also pointed out that fear-mongering would not do any good for the relationship between the two states, and their people.

With Empuraan now facing a new controversy, it would be interesting to see if the filmmakers decide to stick with Mohanlal’s ‘apology note’ about not offending any section of the audience, or give these demands a cold shoulder.

ALSO READ: Apology and betrayal: Mohanlal, Prithviraj Sukumaran and Murali Gopy’s L2 Empuraan is not the interactive cinema we had hoped to experience one day

Nevertheless, the film has entered the Rs 200 crore club, is the fastest Rs 50-crore grosser in Kerala, and the highest-grossing Malayalam film ever. Directed by Prithviraj Sukumaran, who also plays a starring role in Empuraan, the film is the second of a planned three-film franchise that started with Lucifer in 2019. Written by Murali Gopy, and with music by Deepak Dev, the third and final part of the franchise is reportedly titled Azrael.

While the film already has a stellar star cast including the likes of Tovino Thomas, Manju Warrier, Baiju, Nyla Usha, and Indrajith Sukumaran, the makers revealed that Pranav Mohanlal will be playing the role of young Stephen Nedumpally in the film, which traces story of how a young Stephen became a raging force in 1980s Mumbai, and went on to become the dreaded global gangster, Khureshi Ab’raam.