The Amazon Prime Original Show Patal Lok has been bombarded with praise from the audience and the critics ever since it came out. However, the show has had its share of criticism. Now a BJP MLA has filed a complaint against Anushka Sharma, the show’s producer.
BJP MLA Nandakishore Gurjar has filed a complaint against the actor-producer for using his photo in the show without his permission. Gurjar’s photo has been used in a scene from the show where Balkrishna Bajpayee, one of the characters in the film, is shown to be inaugurating a national highway. The original photo featured several BJP leaders alongside the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath. The politician has demanded a case to be filed against Anushka Sharma under the National Security Act for causing communal hatred.
The BJP MLA further accused the show to be portraying Sanatan Dharma and other Hindu agencies in a bad light. In his complaint, he also accused the show of portraying Gurjars as people involved in mal-practices and also alleged that the show is creating caste differences in India. It is deliberately trying to malign the Bharatiya Janata Party, he said. He also alleged that the show is portraying Pakistan to be terror-free which in-turn shows India in a bad light in the eyes of the world.
A legal notice to Anushka Sharma
Earlier this week, the MP from Sikkim Indra Hang Subba had served a legal notice to Anushka Sharma for using racist slurs against the Nepali community. The MP has written a letter to the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar demanding action against the show. In the letter, she wrote,
“This is regarding sexist slur hurled against the Nepali speaking community in the second episode of the original series Patal Lok which is being streamed in Amazon Prime Video. Nepali is one of the 22 languages listed in the 8th Schedule of the Indian constitution with 10.5 million people speaking the language as mother tongue. Hence the derogatory and offensive label made in the particular scene of the series has not only hurt the sentiments of the community but has also set an example of racist stereotyping of the people from the community especially at this time where the people from the northeast region have already endured racial assaults owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Source: India Today
