Prabhuvinte Makkal , a Malayalam film on the misdeeds allegedly perpetrated by organised religion, has been blocked on YouTube.
Sajeevan Anthikad, director of the movie, claimed it was viewed by 1.25 lakh viewers after it was uploaded on YouTube on January 8 by the Kerala Freethinkers Forum, a rationalist and secularist group.
Other videos uploaded by the forum on religious bigotry, superstition, and rationalism had also been blocked, Mr. Anthikad said.
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The Kerala Freethinkers Forum on Thursday received intimation from YouTube that their account had been blocked. “The YouTube community has flagged one or more of your videos as inappropriate. Once a video is flagged, it is reviewed by the YouTube Team against our community guidelines. Upon review, we have determined that the following video contains content in violation of these guidelines, and have been disabled: “
Mr. Anthikad said the movie went viral within three weeks of its release, and communal forces were at work to get it flagged.
“The movie was cleared by the Central Board of Film Certification. So, what inappropriate content does it have? The movie exposes the evils perpetrated by organised religions. Hence, it ruffled feathers. Religious forces have secret groups on the Internet. The pages of the Kerala Freethinkers Forum were flagged six times by a group operating on a social networking site,” Mr. Anthikad said.
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He attributed the interest shown by YouTube viewers in Prabhuvinte Makkal to the debate triggered by the Aamir Khan-starrer PK.