BENGALURU: The makers of the movie Pogaru, which grossed Rs 21 crore in two days, have agreed to remove or mute content offensive to the Brahmin community. The film will continue to be screened.Starring Rashmika Mandanna and Dhruva Sarja, Pogaru landed in a controversy immediately after its release on February 19, with members of the Brahmin community taking exception to certain scenes and language which allegedly showed the community in a bad light.
Actor Dhruva Sarja released a video on Monday in which he apologised for hurting the sentiments of the community. Director Nanda Kishore too has issued an apology and said the filmmakers did not intend to hurt anybody’s sentiments.Members of the community approached H S Sachidananda Murthy, chairman of the Karnataka State Brahmin Development Board (KSBDB), who met with Sarja and Kishore and conveyed the demands of the community. It was agreed during the meeting that 15 scenes and 28 words allegedly offensive to the community will be removed or muted.
Murthy said, “Both the actor and director have apologised. They met me and we told them to remove or mute those dialogues and scenes. They have agreed to do this in two days. We will wait until then.”He said religious heads of the community, including the Mantralaya seer Subhudendra Thirtha Swami, had called him, demanding that the offensive scenes be removed. Other community leaders had told him that they would seek legal action if the scenes were not removed.
BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje tweeted, “It has become a fashion to humiliate Hindus & take a ride on our sentiments. Whether they have guts to portray other religions in this manner? Screening of Pogaru film has to be stopped until such objectionable scenes are censored. Hurting Hindu emotions can’t be ignored.”