Hyderabad: Priya Prakash Varrier, the ‘wink’ girl of social media, is again in the news as two Hyderabadis have moved an intervention application in the Supreme Court here, seeking the court’s consent in allowing them to intervene in an earlier writ petition filed against Priya Varrier and her wink. As she battles a criminal complaint over a wink in a song that she acts in, a plea has reportedly been filed in the Supreme Court contending that winking is “forbidden in Islam.”
The intervention application was submitted by Muqeet Khan, a student, and Zaheer Uddin Khan, with the Falaknuma police against the movie’s director, Omar, on February 14. The applicants together have moved the intervention petition with the Supreme Court arguing that “the act of winking is forbidden in Islam” and that when the “act if superimposed with a sacred song, it amounts to blasphemy.”
They have also added that the Hindu groups were also negatively affected due to “objectionable picturisation of the song.”
The petition also cites the complaint filed at Jinsi police station in Maharashtra by a group of people, called Janjagran Samithi. In her February 19 petition to the Apex court, Priya Varrier, along with the director Omar Lulu and others, sought an ex-parte stay on the FIR registered against them and also sought appropriate orders restraining other states from registering FIRs against them. This was in response to the case registered by Falaknuma police, based on a complaint by Muqeet, against the director under section 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings) on February 14.
Following this, on February 18, the Hyderabad police had sent a notice to Malayalam film director Omar Lulu, seeking an explanation following complaints, asking the director to give an explanation about the song within 15 days.
Several Muslim groups across the country expressed strong objection to the song as the lyrics talk about the love story between Prophet Mohammed and his wife Khadija Bivi. However, what most of these groups seem to be unaware of is the fact that the song was part of popular folk song in Kerala.
Responding to the controversy, the film’s director Omar Lulu said that he did not see why the song was becoming an issue now. “This song has been around since 1978 and I'm surprised that it's becoming an issue now. In Kerala, I don’t think there was any opposition,” he had said.
