L2: Empuraan: Mohanlal- Prithviraj film faces online backlash from right-wing supporters

Soon after the release of the much-hyped movie on Thursday (March 27, 2025), social media platforms were filled with messages calling for its boycott, with some users even posting images of the online tickets they had cancelled after hearing about the film’s content.

Empuraan, which says the events portrayed are all fictional, begins with extensive sequences of a communal flare-up which runs to over 15 minutes. While the images in the title sequences appear to be referencing the burning of a coach of the Sabarmati Express carrying saffron-clad men at Godhra railway station, the opening scenes depict mob violence in which several Muslims are killed. Some of the sequences appear to be a reference to the Bilkis Bano case in which 11 men were convicted for the gang-rape and murder of several members of a family. Baba Bajrangi, the antagonist who leads the mob, appears to be a reference to Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi who was sentenced to life imprisonment for masterminding the Naroda Patiya massacre.

A Twitter handle called @hindupost called Empuraan “an outright Hindu-bashing propaganda film that paints Hindus as villains” while another one called @Baba_Mocha posted “Happy that i didn’t even attempt to book. Not spending a single rupee on this one.” Several posts on a similar vein were posted across social media platforms.

Under social media posts by BJP Kerala State president Rajeev Chandrasekhar, in which he extended best wishes to the Mohanlal-Prithviraj team on the film’s release, several supporters criticised the leader for supporting the film.

Much of the online backlash was aimed at Prithviraj and Mohanlal, while a few users also named the screenwriter Murali Gopy. A user named @abhijithnair01, who called himself a hardcore Mohanlal fan, posted: “Mr @Mohanlal, This is betrayal. This isn’t just creative liberty. This feels like an ideological attack. This will be the last Mohanlal movie I ever watch.”

Meanwhile, BJP leader M.T. Ramesh said that a film should be seen as a film, and that the people of Kerala have the “common sense” to do the same.

Although the film has a few barbs aimed at the Left, Bineesh Kodiyeri, son of former CPI(M) Kerala State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, lauded the “courage” of the makers of a big-budget film in today’s India to depict the 2002 riots.