‘Hindphobic Anurag Basu’ Trends Over Rajkummar’s ‘Demeaning’ Ramleela Scene In ‘Ludo’

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Courtesy: freepressjournal.com

Filmmaker Anurag Basu’s love for the absurd is on full display in ‘Ludo’, a movie inspired by the popular indoor game, which the director says gave him a chance to blend different genres to create a comical world.

Basu, best known for marrying commerce with his out-of-box stories such as ‘Life in A Metro’, ‘Barfi!’ and J’agga Jasoos’, is at his creative best as he juggles multiple storylines and different sets of characters in the movie, released on Netflix on November 12.

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The dark comedy anthology features the talented cast of Abhishek A Bachchan, Aditya Roy Kapur, Rajkummar Rao, Sanya Malhotra, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Rohit Saraf, Pearle Maaney, Pankaj Tripathi, Asha Negi, Shalini Vats and Inayat Verma. Now, a section of netizens have been trending ‘Hinduphobic Anurag Basu’ on Twitter, for a ‘demeaning’ Ramleela scene in the film.

Courtesy: freepressjournal.com

The scene features Rajkummar Rao as Lanka king Ravana’s sister Surpanakha and her encounter with Lord Rama. The clip shared on Twitter shows Rao saying, “Hey sundar nar, main teri deewani hoon, tum era Bajirao, main teri Mastani hoon.”

Watch the full video below.

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One user wrote, “Ludo directed by #Hinduphobic_AnuragBasu chooses to depict our gods in such a demeaning manner. We have just seen how a cartoon led to #Parisbehading and worldwide protests Would Anurag Basu ever show such scenes of other religions and dream of being untouched ?

Another added, “Ramleela is a devotional play for Hindus for their spiritual emotion unto श्री राम Even as country is getting set to build grand Ram Mandir #Hinduphobic_AnuragBasu has denigrated Ramleela in film #Ludo Would he ever dare to depict such scenes from other religions & walk safely.”

Here are some reactions on the microblogging site.

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Earlier, Basu in an interview told PTI, that the idea was to create an absurd, whimsical world and characters. When we started thinking about making a movie, we thought of something that combines four-five genres together, keeps the audience engaged and makes them laugh.

The movie borrows the four colours of the game with each shade dominating a different segment – red in Bachchan and Verma, blue in Saraf and Maaney, green in Rao and Shaikh and yellow in Kapur and Malhotra’s case.

These characters cross each other’s paths thanks to Tripathi’s endearing gangster Sattu, representing the dice. Basu said he wrote the role of Sattu with the “Mirzapur” star in mind.

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“You can’t play ludo without a dice, similarly, you cannot make the film without Sattu. His character can affect any story. He is like the domino effect so much so that a story’s crisis can become the happy ending for the other.”

“Sattu is unpredictable. He is the villain in everybody’s story but in the process, he gets his own story. His unpredictability really helps the film. There is no right or wrong in the story, we never mark things like that. Sattu is right in his place.”

While Tripathi’s Sattu lends unpredictability to the story, Basu making a reference to the coronavirus pandemic in a cameo as one of the two narrators in the film makes it more contemporary.

“I think the film became contemporary because of it, the morality or the thought of the film suits the situation. But the line was not in the script, it was an improvisation.”

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Asked about the political commentary in the film through Kapur’s character of a stand-up comedian, Basu said the idea was to not go overboard with anything and change the intention of the film.

“The aim of the film is to make people laugh and not give any political message. It is just there and goes with Aditya’s character and what his beliefs are.” Meanwhile, producer-director duo Bhushan Kumar and Anurag Basu have decided to strengthen their association with several films including a sequel to ‘Ludo’.

Source: Free Press Journal

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