TORONTO – An Indian filmmaker based in Toronto Canada has been granted protection from the Supreme Court of India after being subjected to multiple police investigations and death threats because of her portrayal of the Hindu goddess, Kali.
Leena Manimekalai is a Toronto-based, Madurai-born, decorated, and respected Indian filmmaker, poet, and actor who is the inaugural artist-in-residence at the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU). She released her documentary film, Kaali, as a short project in TMUs Under the Tent program at the Aga Khan Museum. Kaali was part of 18 pieces produced in the exhibition of “multidisciplinary works from across Canada explored multiculturalism not as a destination but as a journey towards many destinations.”
The Under the Tent storytelling project is presented to promote diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds by asking “selected participants to reflect on individual and collective experiences with multiculturalism, race and diversity, and to propose contributions towards its future possibilities.”
Kaali is titled after the Hindu goddess of ultimate power, time, destruction and change. Her name is also commonly written as Kali and she is also referred to as Mahakali, Bhadrakali, and Kalika. In the Shaktism tradition, Kaali is the supreme of all powers. In the tantric tradition, Kaali is the first named of the Mahavidya, the ten goddesses.
Manimekalai’s film poster depicted Goddess Kaali as a smoking woman with one of her arms carrying a dagger draped in the in LGBTQ+ Rainbow Flag.
Super thrilled to share the launch of my recent film – today at @AgaKhanMuseum as part of its “Rhythms of Canada”
Link: https://t.co/RAQimMt7LnI made this performance doc as a cohort of https://t.co/D5ywx1Y7Wu@YorkuAMPD @TorontoMet @YorkUFGS
Feeling pumped with my CREW❤️ pic.twitter.com/L8LDDnctC9
— லீனா மணிமேகலை (@LeenaManimekali) July 2, 2022
In a manner familiar to many Pagans as channeling or becoming deity, Manimekalai’s film portrays Kaali as descending on a queer BIPOC filmmaker who moves through the streets of Toronto night as the goddess from Tamil and Telegu folklore. The performance portrays the rebellious and defiant spirit that possesses people including eating meat and drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana, and dancing in a transgressive show. One scene shows public urination.
“My Kaali believes in love and sharing. She accepts the cigarette from a Black street dweller at a park around Kensington market in Toronto and listens to reggae,” said Manimekalai to Write last year. “When Kaali descends on me, the Queer Filmmaker, she will definitely hold a pride flag and a camera. Kaali is my embodiment. I have performed as Kaali.”
Manimekalai added, “My Kaali is inspired from Tamil and Telugu village rituals where she comes on people as a spirit and eats meat, smokes ganja, drinks country arrack, urinates in the middle of the village, spits on filth and dances wild. I embodied her and chose to walk across the streets of downtown Toronto, the land of immigrants, to understand settler colonialism.”
Last July, six months after the release of the film, Manimekalai shared a tweet depicting the poster to promote the screening of her film. The poster image exploded. It went viral and enraged some on social media.
A massive social media backlash resulted which included the hashtag #ArrestLeenaManimekalai.
The High Commission of India in Ottawa urged authorities to “take action” against the filmmaker for what it considered a “disrespectful depiction” of Kaali.
The film was removed from the Under the Tent presentation by TMU/ Aga Khan Museum. In a statement last year, TMU said it removed Kaali because it felt that the film appeared to cause offense to the religious sentiment of many Canadians and other persons elsewhere.
The Museum apologized and wrote:
Toronto Metropolitan University’s project presentation was hosted once at the Aga Khan Museum on July 2, 2022 in the context of the Museum’s mission to foster intercultural understanding and dialogue through the arts. Respect for diverse religious expressions and faith communities forms an integral part of that mission. The presentation is no longer being shown at the Museum.
The Museum deeply regrets that one of the 18 short videos from ‘Under the Tent’ and its accompanying social media post have inadvertently caused offence to members of the Hindu and other faith communities.
Chandra Arya, a Liberal Member of Parliament in Canada demanded an apology and the removal of the film. Arya said it was “painful” to see the poster and welcomed Aga Khan Museum’s apology. In the past few years, “traditional anti-Hindu and anti-India groups in Canada have joined forces,” he wrote, “resulting in Hinduphobic articles” and “attacks on our Hindu temples.”
Painful to see Kaali poster by filmmaker Leena Manimekalai.
Past few years, traditional anti-Hindu and anti-India groups in Canada have joined forces resulting in Hinduphobic articles in media & attacks on our Hindu temples.
Apology from @AgaKhanMuseum is welcome & appreciated— Chandra Arya (@AryaCanada) July 5, 2022
Hindu politics also played a role. Hinduvta refers historically to “Hinduness” but more recently has been co-opted into modern political ideology by some religious and political leaders in India, including some from the far right who support the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to seek a hegemony of Hindus and Hinduism toward the creation of an Indian ethno-religious state. The film sparked debate on the nature and acceptance of secularism in India.
But the social media attacks became increasingly targeted and personal, and then ultimately included law enforcement authorities. Police in six Indian states issued first information reports against Manimekalai for allegedly offending the religious sentiments of Hindus. First information reports (FIR) are documents prepared by police departments in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asian countries when they receive verifiable information about a “cognizable” offense, meaning an officer may arrest the target of an FIR without a warrant and set criminal proceedings in motion.
Besides the police FIR, Manimekalai reports she has received thousands of death and rape threats.
Last month, the Supreme Court of India granted its protection to Manimekalai against the coercive FIRs. But it does not mean they were vacated.
“It feels good that I could change the narrative,” she told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “I was bullied, I was insulted and I was branded problematic and controversial.”
But the struggle is not yet over. The filmmaker tweeted today that the “fight is still not over. The next court date is March 24, when the Supreme Court will hear from the states trying to justify the FIRs.”
Even today, one response to Manimekalai tweet about the Indian High Court’s protection accused her of blasphemy hoping that she be prosecuted for that crime in the Canadian system.
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