It is indeed a travesty of democracy that opinions and content, whether it be a film, a stand-up comic routine, a painting or a book, have to be tailored to the likes of the political dispensation in power, be it at the centre or states. The outrage with which the BJP has reacted to alleged references to the 2002 Gujarat riots in Mohanlal starrer L2 Empuraan follows a familiar template of intolerance to criticism, assault on free speech and vicious attacks on the filmmakers, who have now been forced to enforce 17 cuts in the film. It came as a surprise to many saffron advocates that Mohanlal, who has been seen as a closet sympathiser of the BJP, allowed such content........

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