THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The schism within the BJP state leadership is nothing new. And this time the leadership is sparring over an unlikeliest topic: 'Empuraan'. The Mohanlal starrer movie directed by Prithviraj has divided the camp as some leaders defended the movie, which the right-wingers have dubbed as anti-hindutwa, while some others went out all guns blazing, accusing it of parroting the narratives of extremist groups.
Newly appointed BJP state chief Rajeev Chandrasekharan was one among the first BJP leaders, who extended greetings for the movie. Sharing a photo of his meeting with Mohanlal in Meta on Thursday, the release day, Rajeev also expressed his wish to watch the movie. "Best wishes, Mohanlal Prithviraj Sukumaran n team! I look forward to watching and enjoying #L2E #Empuraan one of these days!" he wrote.
The followers, however, not amused by this act and commented to his post that the film had scenes and narratives that showed hindutwa outfits in bad li
BJP state vice president P Reghunath, meanwhile, had a contrasting opinion. In his social media post, he wrote that the theme of the movie itself was absurd and doubted whether the film tried to whitewash the now-defunct Popular Front of India and external spy agencies such as Pakistan's Inter Service Intelligence (ISI).
Even as a section of BJP-RSS workers and sympathizers raised a boycot call against the movie on social media.
BJP state general secretary M T Ramesh struck a different note. He told media that cinema should be viewed as that and Keralites have the common sense and knowledge to understand that. Let people decide whether they want to see it or not.
