In the recent teaser for the first part of Baahubali: The Eternal War, Amarendra Baahubali locks horns with Indra himself after his death. In this cosmic rivalry, Baahubali overpowers Indra, a Hindu God whose status declined in the post-Vedic age.
Netizens have accused SS Rajamouli of trying to deplatform a Hindu God in favour of a fictional character. In one of the scenes in the upcoming 3D animation movie, Baahubali asks Indra who will save him! "This is problematic even in fiction; a mere mortal like Bahubali should not talk in a disrespectful way, much less fight on par with Indra the king of gods. I hope director Ishan Shukla handles the script with nuance and doesn't go the serial route of painting devas in a negative light," wrote Melancholy.
"Are Hindus really so stupid that they care about the animation quality more instead of what is being said using that animation?" asked another Netizen.
The majority of Hindus, though, might silently lap up the movie. Indra is not a popular God in contemporary Hindu society. Some ritualists do worship him, but they are a micro-minority. Moreover, you need political backing to even register a protest in today's times.
