Days after BJP MLA Nandkishore Gurjar filed a complaint against Amazon Prime series Paatal Lok producer Anushka Sharma for using a morphed image of himself without his permission, the producers have changed the image.
The scene appears at about 33 minutes 20 seconds into the Season 1, Episode 6 of the series. Earlier, the image showed BJP leader Nandkishor Gurjar in the background.
The image itself was morphed version of an actual image of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurating a highway project.
The BJP MLA alleged that using this image was an act to portray the party in a bad light. Besides, the BJP MLA from Ghaziabad also mentioned in his complaint about the show allegedly offending all communities of the Sanatan Dharma and showing Indian investigating agencies negatively. Seeking a ban on the web series the MLA accuses the makers of anti-nationalism. He also argued that it shows Gurjars as dacoits and people associated with malpractices. He also accused the makers of promoting a communal stir among the communities like his own Gurjar caste, Jaat and others.
All Arunachal Pradesh Gorkha Youth Association complains against Paatal Lok
Prior to this, the series had managed to miff the Gorkha communities which had filed NHRC complaint against Anushka Sharma for ‘racial stereotyping’ in ‘Paatal Lok’. On May 18, the All Arunachal Pradesh Gorkha Youth Association took to Facebook to share a screengrab of their complaint along with a caption, detailing how the alleged sexist and racial slur malign their identity.
“We on behalf of the gorkha people and every Nepali speaking person had filed a complaint at NHRC regarding the discrimination and humiliation witness in an incident of insulting Nepali speaking women has come to light in the web series “Patal Lok” running on Amazone Prime. In one part of the series, a female police officer grabs an arrested woman by the thigh and says “Saali Nepali Ra..di. Foreigner log ko deti hai”. Gorkhali people are hurt with such direct insult to Nepali speaking people. The series seems to have hurt the community and there is a strong protest on social media by Nepali speaking people against this web series “Paatal Lok” for presenting such an insulting, demeaning and derogatory dialogue. It is learned that the producer of this web series “Paatal Lok” is Anushka Sharma, a famous actress of the Indian film industry”, read the caption.
Additionally, the youth wing of the Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh- Bharatiya Yuva Gorkha Parisangh, had also started an online campaign against the web series, alleging that in the second episode, a Nepali-speaking woman had been maligned by the maker and had demanded that the slur to be muted, subtitles blurred and that the video is uploaded with an apology.
