Now Suchitra Krishnamoorthy jumps into azaan controversy; Abu Azmi makes misogynist comments

16 Sep 2017

The azaan controversy refuses to die down it seems. It all started in mid-April when singer Sonu Nigam made a series of tweets making his displeasure clear over the early morning azaan (Islamic call for prayer). He termed the use of loudspeakers as forced religiousness and gundagardi and maintained that not just mosques but even temples use loudspeakers and thats a nuisance as well. In no time, his tweets went viral and it resulted in a huge controversy. The singer was slammed by people from Bollywood as well. A maulvi from West Bengal, Syed Sha Atef Ali Al Quaderi, announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh to anybody who can shave his head and garland him with old torn shoe. Sonu shocked everyone by shaving his head himself and then addressing a press conference. Needless to say, it became a hot topic for news channel debates and among netizens. It seemed like people had moved on from this episode. But actress Suchitra Krishnamoorthy brought back the debate into limelight once again. Yesterday, she took to Twitter to write about being harassed with the early morning azaan especially when she had just returned home exhausted. Her tweet read, came home at 4.45 am 2 most aggressive/ ear shattering call of azaan. Nothing more lowlife & dumb than such extreme imposed religiousity. As expected, once again, Twitterati went all out in replying to her post, with some supporting her and some vehemently opposing her. The barrage of negative comments did nothing to stop Suchitra from writing another tweet which read, I wake up at Brahmamuhurt of my own accord & do my prayers & riyaz & yoga. I dont need public loudspeakers to remind me of my God or my duty. She then added that she has no complaints if azaan is played on loudspeakers during decent hours. Nobody objects to azaan or prayers during decent hours. But to be waking up entire neighbourhood at 5 am is not civilized, is what she tweeted. The matter became uglier when Abu Azmi, the Samajwadi Party MLA and father-in-law of actress Ayesha Takia, jumped into the fray. When news channels asked him to comment on this episode, he not only called Suchitra stupid but also made some misogynist comments. To a news channel, he said that women like Suchitra Krishnamoorthy put their arms around men and roam around at 3am in the night. At this point, the anchor warned him that he should not be commenting on a womans character. But Abu Azmi was adamant and added that hell use harsher words if people make ill-informed comments on religion. He then ridiculed both Suchitra and as well as Sonu Nigam by saying that they have contributed to the nation and are simply trying to disrupt communal harmony. Suchitra became a household name in 1994 when she debuted in Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa opposite Shah Rukh Khan.She gave up acting post marriage but returned in 2005 with My Wifes Murder , starring Anil Kapoor and produced by Ram Gopal Varma. She was also seen in RGVs two more films, Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag and Rann.She has also dabbled in painting and written a book Drama Queen. A play, also called Drama Queen, adapted from her book, was premiered last year in Mumbai.