Oh No! Anushka Sharma In Legal Trouble Over Casteist Slur In “Paatal Lok”

Anushka Sharma has been largely garnering positive response for her Amazon Prime Video show Paatal Lok ever since its grand premiere on 15th May, 2020. But her happiness may turn out to be short-lived as the executive producer of the show has received a legal notice. Yes, you read it right!

Viren Sri Gurung, a member of the Lawyers Guild, has sent a legal notice to Anushka Sharma for a perceived casteist slur on her show Paatal Lok. In his legal notice, Gurung said that the word is insulting towards the Nepali community.

He said that there is a scene in the show wherein, during an interrogation, a lady police officer uses a casteist slur on a Nepali character. There would not have been any problem had only ‘Nepali’ been used. But the word that follows it is unacceptable. Since Anushka Sharma is one of the producers of the show, he has served her a notice. Gurung added that Sharma has not responded to the notice yet. He also said that he will take the matter up with Amazon Prime Video next.

This is not the first time when Paatal Lok has invited the wrath of a community. Earlier, an organisation representing Gorkhas, had claimed that a scene in the much-loved series contains a sexual slur directed at the community and indulges in stereotyping of the people of the Northeast. The outfit had demanded that the conversation be muted in the show.

The Bharatiya Gorkha Yuva Parisangh, the youth wing of Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh, has also launched an online petition. In its statement, the organization said that Nepali is one of the 22 scheduled languages and there are 10.5 million people in India who speak Nepali as the common tongue. The Gorkha community is the largest Nepali speaking community and this is a direct insult to the community.