Chennai: Refuting the allegations that the film ‘Farhana’ which is scheduled to be released on 13 May is against Islamic beliefs, Dream Warrior Pictures the Tamil film production company of the film said in a statement that the content is not amount to hurting any religious feelings and its sentiments.
Islamic groups have raised objections against the film 'Farhana' after a teaser was released on April 22 and a trailer was released on May 9. The film features Aishwarya Rajesh as the protagonist, a mother who takes up a call centre job for the sake of her family and encounters several challenges, including being forced to engage in sleazy conversations with customers and facing their sexual demands.
The film was directed by Nelson Venkatesan and with music by Justin Prabhakaran.
The Indian National League (INL) party leader Tada J Abdul Rahim demanded a ban on the film alleging that the film features a burqa-wearing Muslim woman who is involving in sex work which he claimed is offensive to Muslims and goes against Islamic beliefs.
Rahim lodged a complaint against the movie with the Chennai police commissioner's office in the second week of May, having filed an initial complaint on 25 April to ban the movie. He also raised concerns about the portrayal of Muslim women in the OTT-released film Burqa.
Dream Warrior Pictures responded with a statement, saying that it has been functioning with “great social responsibility and work ethics”, and that “our films have spoken about religious harmony, social unity, and love”.
The statement also emphasised that Farhana “is not against any religion or their sentiments” and that the film had been certified by the government’s censor board. The statement urged those who had opposed the film’s release to “understand” that it was not “against humanity and humaneness”, and that “Tamil Nadu is a paradise for religious harmony”.
The production company also highlighted that Farhana had cleared the censorship process in Malaysia, Singapore, Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates without issue and that the opposition to the film’s release was based on “misconceptions”.
The film stars Aishwarya Rajesh, Anumol, Selvaraghavan, Jithan Ramesh and Aishwarya Dutta, and is produced by Dream Warrior Pictures, which has previously produced Kaidhi, Aruvi, Theeran Athigaram Ondru and Joker.