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“Laxmmi Bomb” Or “Laxmmi”?

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Surviving the Hindu parochialism has restricted people to a singular mindset. Over the years, it has been watering the seed of strict religious ideas and commitments in the youth. There have been common problematic scenarios and debates that appeal to retrospection but are we braving this. Are we setting ourselves free of the unconscious legacy we’ve been carrying so far?

Examples are set every other day; controversies are born out of mere expressions and rhetoric quotes. Unity has been key to such significant realities. Die-hard partisans of extremely polarised communities crowd the portion of audience revolting. The remaining sits quietly at home, contemplating how their opinions differ from those on the streets.

Hits at movies have highlighted this dichotomy between our grip on ancient ideologies and free creation. As the Raghava Lawrence directed and Akshay Kumar starring comedy-horror film “Laxmmi Bomb” went through a name transition to “Laxmmi,” it highlighted our submission to polarized extremist Hindu ideologies of India. The film faced backlash when the Hindu Sena threatened to boycott the movie blaming absolute blasphemy in the name. The usage of “bomb” with the holy name of Goddess Laxmi was at the center of the controversy.

 

Is India ready to risk it?

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Still of Akshay Kumar from Laxmmi

The last time any movie had faced such widespread backlash was Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Padmavati,” later morphed as “Padmavat.” The Rajput Karni Sena had a massive role in the transition, although the movie lived past the demanded alterations and earned huge when it hit the box office. The question put forward today is although the demand is tolerable, is it healthy for a society to submit to such requests?

Do we make ourselves powerless enough not to see how these submissions can impact hugely on the modern mindset we need to form? Planning economic revival while not leaving behind freedom is true to nature if we put good values and needs in place.

Letting a specific group of people have the upper hand in making things right as per their narrative can harm the rest’s freedom. Is India ready to risk it? If at all, is religion a symbol of freedom or strictures? Are we having a completely different picture here, or are things so blurred and morphed that we’ve been ignoring how the wrongs are being normalized?

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