Hindu radicals protest statue of “Christian” Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin was not known as a Christian while he was alive, but some Hindu activists in India seem to think he has undergone a post-mortem conversion. Humourless BJP fanatics have blocked installation of a 67-foot statue of the great comic actor because it would offend Hinduism.
The last laugh may be on Charlie Chaplin, cinema’s funny man who mocked prejudice and fascism. The Left-leaning, suspected communist sympathizer was called many names during his eventful life, but `Christian’ wasn’t one of them. But the new tag comes courtesy BJP activists in Baindur, near Udupi. They have blocked installation of Chaplin’s statue saying it would hurt Hindu sentiment.
The statue was being put up by Karnataka film director Hemant Hegde for the shoot of his movie `Housefull’ and was meant for a song sequence. On Friday, local BJP leader Suresh Batwadi stopped the film unit from going ahead with the project, claiming that the land on which the statue was to be erected belonged to the Someshwara temple and the crew lacked the requisite permissions.
Hegde said he had obtained all the clearances and had discussed the shoot with the officials. “I had apprised the gram panchayat and the Udupi deputy commissioner. The BJP activists questioned me as to why I was not installing Vivekananda’s statue,” he said. He said he planned to shift the shoot elsewhere.
Swami Vivekananda was an influential 19th-century Hindu mystic, but I doubt he was as funny as Charlie Chaplin.
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