Telugu lyricist Ananta Sriram delivered a high-octane speech at Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s (VHP) Hindu Sankharavan event held in Vijayawada’s Kesarpalli. He also averred that he was ashamed that he belonged to a film industry that distorted Hindu Granthas. He cited the example of the recently released Kalki 2898 AD that distorted Vyasa Bharat to portray Karna in a positive light.
“Feeling ashamed as a member of the film industry,” says Ananta Sriram
At the grand religious gathering Hindu Sankharavam, Tollywood lyricist Ananta Sriram delivered a speech that sparked widespread discussion. Addressing a large crowd, he voiced his discontent with certain cinematic portrayals of revered characters, specifically criticizing the recently released film Kalki. Ananta expressed shame over being part of an industry that, in his view, distorts sacred Hindu Granthas and their characters.
“Mahabharata and Ramayana are the two eyes of Bharatiya literature. Yet, time and again, we see distortions of Vyasa’s Mahabharata and Valmiki’s Ramayana in cinema, from older films to the latest Kalki. The unwarranted glorification of Karna in Kalki made me ashamed to be part of the film industry. I say this without hesitation, standing on the sacred soil of Krishna district,” Ananta Sriram declared.
He criticized the cinematic exaltation of Karna, questioning its acceptance by society. “If we fail to call out distortions for what they are, we neither uphold Hindu Dharma nor embody its principles. Declaring oneself a Hindu becomes meaningless in such cases. Can we accept Karna, who advocated disrobing Draupadi in a public assembly, as a noble warrior? Will society celebrate Karna, who fled in fear during the encounter with the Gandharva army, as a hero?” Ananta asked.
He further contrasted Karna’s glorification with other characters in the epics. “How can Karna, who ruled a kingdom granted as a donation, be equated with Dharmaraja, the greatest benefactor? In Kalki, Karna—armed with a bow gifted by Surya—was portrayed as superior to Arjuna, who wielded a bow blessed by Agni. This raises an important question: does victory come from sheer strength or righteousness? Should we stay silent on such misrepresentations?”
Ananta Sriram extended his critique to cinematic depictions of the Ramayana. “Even in Valmiki’s Ramayana, filmmakers have added fictional elements for dramatic effect, such as floating stones or a battle between Rama and his sons Lava and Kusha. Are we to remain silent about such distortions?” he questioned.
Sharing a personal experience, Ananta Sriram revealed an incident from his career. “I once approached a music director for a song, but he refused to work on it because it included the term Brahmanda Nayakudu (Lord of the Universe), a term deeply rooted in Hindu tradition. He said he couldn’t compose a song with such a Hindu connotation. That day, I vowed never to write for him again. Fifteen years later, I have kept that vow,” Ananta shared.
In conclusion, Ananta Sriram urged the public to reject films that disrespect Hindu culture. “Producers who demean Hindu Dharma must not profit from their creations. It is not the government but the people who must take a stand by boycotting such films,” he appealed.
Instances of distortion of Hindu Granthas by filmmakers
Ananta Sriram minced no words while highlighting a trend we are all too familiar with – disrespecting and distorting Hindu Dharma. In his speech, he brought up the Bollywood song Dum Maaro Dum which disrespects Prabhu Sri Ram and Bhagwan Krishna. He contrasted it with Seetharama Sastry’s composition highlighting how Hindu Devatas should be depicted in films. Even the government-run DD channel has telecast Hinduphobic shows.
Here are some ventures that have distorted Hindu Granthas in the name of ‘creative freedom’:
1) Adipurush: While Ananta spoke of Prabhas-starrer Kalki 2898 AD, the Bahubali actor’s earlier venture earned the ire of Hindus. His Adipurush turned out to be one of the biggest disappointments. Adipurush appeared to be imitating Hollywood rather than sticking to Bharatiya Itihas. As HinduPost had pointed out earlier, “Adipurush comes across as an imitation of the West. This can be attributed to today’s urban elites’ fascination with Western ideas and lifestyles. The colonial mindset also colours our vision and understanding of our granthas. That’s why we see a lot of distortion in Dharmic TV serials too. When it comes to Ramayan, it is essential to stick to Maharishi Valmiki’s original because he was a contemporary.”
2) Kaala: It is well-established that the Tamil Film Industry, Kollywood as it is better known, is majorly anti-Hindu. It was, therefore, not surprising that Rajnikanth-starrer Kaala written and directed by Hinduphobic Pa Ranjith turned out to be a Hindu bashing venture under the guise of fighting for the rights of the poor.
3) Pathaan: Bollywood churned out Pathaan starring Shahrukh Khan which softened the image of Pakistan and, staggeringly, even Pakistan’s notorious spy agency ISI. Pathaan is neither the first nor will it be the last film that runs on anti-Bharat propaganda. X (formerly Twitter) Account Gems of Bollywood has brought to light numerous instances of Hinduphobia by Urduwood, even forcing an apology from Shreyas Talpade whose 2012 film Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal depicted a Christian man insulting the Hindu holy symbol Om.
4) Krishna and his Leela: This 2020 Telugu film, released on Netflix, was narrated by Bahubali fame Rana Daggubati. It was also been jointly produced by Rana’s family production house Suresh Productions, Sanjay Reddy, and Viacom18 Pictures. This film distorts Bhagwan Krishna’s Rasleela to present Him as a character with loose morals. The filmmakers reduce sacred Hindu stories to mere “masala” for a salacious rom-com, portraying Krishna with multiple affairs, including one with Radha, and featuring sexually explicit content, framed as a coming-of-age story for modern youth. This is the kind of distortion that Ananta Sriram pointed out in his speech.
5) Annapoorani: The 2023 Tamil film starring Nayanthara had all the elements of a Hinduphobic movie. Not surprisingly, it used the name of Mata Annapoorana who is held in high regard by Hindus as a provider of food and a form of Parvati Devi. Said to be inspired by a Chinese film called Cupid’s Kitchen, this film uses the same formula. A food-themed story, Boy Meets Girl, bashes Brahmins through the story. However, this one includes the theme of a Hindu Brahmin girl falling for a Muslim boy, enter Love Jihad! The perfect recipe for the year and this era.
This snapshot is enough to prove Ananta Sriram’s point that Hinduphobia is being mainstreamed in films only because Hindu Samaj has been tolerant. As Ananta said it is up to us Hindus to ensure that filmmakers who distort Hindu Granthas and produce/direct Hinduphobic content are rejected.
(Featured Image Source: AP7AM Website)
The glaring examples of widespread anti-Hindu hate given by Hindupost Desk are enough to open the eyes of ignorants. Since such hate and phobia is exhibited by large number of people with Hindu sounding names, who are basically colluding with islamists ( as well as with toxic missionary type of christianists), it also creates an atmosphere of pervasive fear and terror and insecurity for genuine folks, and attrition of our civilizational heritage.
Hindupost Desk is however doing a disservice by saying that “Hindu Samaj has been tolerant,”. The Hindu society – for most part – is culturally behaving as individualistic cowards, generally trying to use jugad to serve personal interests and trying to abandon their own values for it.
This fake cover of morality makes the situation even worse.
Well you have a point there when you say Hindus are more interested in serving their personal interests.
Well that is the default human nature, unless motivated by some other *organizational* passion to protect and dominate. I personally feel deeply concerned about giving cowardice in Hindus a fake moral cover by calling it tolerance even secularism. This makes these victims of jihadi and ghazi mohammadists and their lackeyes a mental drug of delusion that by being so they are on a higher moral pedestal, when the situation is quite opposite. While Hindus are still not able to organise discarding their despicable and unproductive version of jati and varna (aka caste), at least we can stop giving them this drug or anesthesia called “tolerance”. The original shamanic definition of jati and varna had no such exploitative, cruel and crappy feature dictated via inheritance.