Two mins of scenes removed from 'L2: Empuraan', says movie's producer

Two days after Malayalam superstar Mohanlal assured that the controversial portions from his recently-released film 'L2: Empuraan' would be removed, its producer Antony Perumbavoor on Tuesday said that a little over two minutes of scenes have been deleted from the movie. 

Speaking to reporters in Kochi, Perumbavoor said the decision to carry out the edit was a joint one of all the producers and actors, including Mohanlal and Prithviraj Sukumaran, and it was not out of fear of anyone. 

"There is no question of being afraid. We live in a society. We never intended to do anything which would hurt the sentiments of anyone. If someone is unhappy with the film, then as producers, directors and actors of the movie, we all have the responsibility to address that grievance. 

"So, we all jointly took the decision to carry out the edits. Around two minutes and some seconds worth of scenes have been removed," he said. 

Reacting to a query regarding the film, Union Minister of State for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Tourism Suresh Gopi termed the deletions as "commercially motivated drama". 

"It's a drama. Commercially motivated drama. No one asked them to carry out the deletions. They did it voluntarily....," Gopi told a Malayalam news channel in Delhi. 

Earlier, in response to reporters' queries about whether the decision was taken on someone's direction or due to pressure from some political organisation, Perumbavoor denied the same and clarified that even in the future, if someone was aggrieved by a film they had made, steps would be taken to address it. 

"Not just for any party, but even if people are affected, we will take the same steps," he said. 

"It is not because of any threats or pressure by anyone," he further said and added that the re-edited version is expected to be released during the day. 

He also said that there was no need to attack Prithiviraj over it. 

Perumbavoor also said that there will be a third sequel to the 'Lucifer' film. 

Director Major Ravi had recently claimed that Mohanlal had not seen the film prior to its release. The actor has not reacted to his claim. 

However, in an apparent response to Ravi's claim,Perumbavoor said that everyone, including Mohanlal, were aware of the film's story. 

"None of us have said that we were not aware of it," he said. 

Meanwhile, state Excise Minister M B Rajesh said that after seeing the film, he was puzzled why the Sangh Parivar was opposed to it. 

"It has political criticism against everyone. We should not be so intolerant towards that. Apart from that it has content against all kinds of communalism and terrorism. Sangh Parivar's opposition to the film shows their lack of sense," he contended. 

He also said that if the movie he saw was the unedited version, then it required no deletions. 

The decision to carry out the edits was taken despite overwhelming support for the film, its producers and the actors from all quarters, including the Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan. 

However, BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar had said he won't watch 'Empuraan', adding that he was disappointed by this sort of movie-making. 

Mohanlal on Sunday had expressed regret over the raging row surrounding the movie and assured that the controversial portions would be removed from the movie. 

The movie has faced intense criticism from the Sangh Parivar with regard to some portions of the film. 

'L2: Empuraan', the second part of the 'Lucifer' movie, a trilogy planned by the Prithviraj-Mohanlal team, has become a topic of hot debate over its critique of right-wing politics and the covert mention of the Gujarat riots. 

On March 27, the day of the movie's release, the Sangh Parivar vehemently criticised the film on social media, while the Congress and Left platforms celebrated the film for portraying the right-wing politics as "villainous".    (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)