Toronto filmmaker receives backlash, death threats over Hindu goddess poster

This story contains an image of the film poster.

A Toronto-based filmmaker from India is facing death threats and police investigations after sharing a poster for her documentary on Twitter that depicts the Hindu goddess Kali holding a Pride flag and smoking a cigarette. 

Earlier this month, filmmaker and York University international graduate student Leena Manimekalai shared the poster to promote a screening of her film Kaali at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto.

She told CBC News she never expected the poster for the film — which uses an alternate spelling of the goddess's name — to garner this much attention.

"Any artist would expect a discussion, a discourse post her work being exhibited. But I never thought I would be attacked by this type of organized violence," she said.

The post sparked heated debate among politicians and religious leaders in India, including those who support Prime Minister Narendra Modi's governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Hindutva, a right-wing ideology that seeks to transform India from a secular democracy into an ethno-religious country.

Some researchers and groups, including Human Rights Watch, say the ideology has led to discrimination and violence against minority groups in India, like Muslims and Christians. They say it is also used to silence academic criticism of Indian politics in Canada.

In less than two weeks, Manimekalai said she and her family have received thousands of messages of hate through her social media pages, including rape and death threats. 

She wrote on Twitter that she was thrilled to share the launch of her film, which was hosted by Toronto Metropolitan University and presented at the Aga Khan Museum as part of a larger screening of films on multiculturalism. 

The tweet received immediate backlash, prompting the Indian High Commission in Ottawa to urge Canadian authorities to "take action" against what it called a "disrespectful depiction of Hindu gods" after it said it received complaints from leaders of the Hindu community in Canada.

The Aga Khan Museum apologized for screening the film, saying the presentation is "no longer being shown" and it "deeply regrets" that one of the short videos and "accompanying social media post have inadvertently caused offence." 

Toronto Metropolitan University distanced itself from Manimekalai as well.

When asked whether it received any correspondence from the Indian High Commission about its concerns with the film and poster, Global Affairs Canada would only say in a statement that "diplomatic correspondences are confidential" and  "Canada will always uphold freedom of expression." 

Laura Scaffidi, press secretary for Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, also responded in a statement: "Threatening to commits acts of violence or rape against someone online is unacceptable and should never happen. We know that what happens online doesn't stay online.… Canadians want social media companies to do more to fix this."