FIR AGAINST PRIYA VARRIER’S FILM SONG

HYDERABAD/NEWDELHI: The Hyderabad police on Wednesday booked the makers of the forthcoming Malayalam film Oru Adaar Love after a complaint by a group of locals that a song in the film hurt the sentiments of Muslims.

In Mumbai, the Raza Academy, a group representing the Barelvi branch of the Sunnis, said that it had written to the Mumbai police commissioner and the censor board asking them to edit portions of the song Manikya Malaraya Poovi because they found it “objectionable”.

The body said it would launch a nationwide agitation if its demands were not met.

The song, featuring overnight sensation Priya Prakash Varrier, has gone viral since it was launched on the internet on Friday.

Police in Hyderabad filed a case against the makers under section 295A of the Indian Penal Code (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), Hyderabad’s deputy commissioner of police (south zone) V Satyanarayana said.

“The police are meticulously investigating the case and appropriate action would be taken against the concerned as per the facts and law,” the DCP said.

The film’s director, Omar Lulu, said the charges were baseless.

The complainant, Mohammed Abdul Muqeeth Khan, an engineering student, said, “We don’t want to take to the streets or organise people to protest. In fact, I, too, was floored by the clipping of the song, which went viral.

However, when I heard the complete song after it became popular yesterday, I felt there is something wrong in the lyrics.” His cousin Abdul Kauser, a businessman, who also signed the complaint, said they would fight for protection of the sentiments of the Muslims through legal means, rather than through agitations.

Inspector P Yadagiri of the Falaknuma police station, who received the complaint, forwarded it to the Central Crime Station for further action.