Actor Priya Varrier welcomes SC decision to stay criminal proceedings

Thiruvananthapuram: Actor Priya Prakash Varrier, who became an Internet sensation for her wink in a Malayam movie song, said she was happy with the Supreme Court's decision to stay the criminal proceedings against her and the film's director Omar Lulu over the viral video.

Varrier and Lulu had approached the apex court after multiple criminal proceedings were filed against them in the states of Telangana and Maharashtra against the song titled "Manikya Malaraya Poovi" which was released on YouTube as the teaser song of the film. It was alleged that the song was "offensive and violated the religious sentiment of a particular community".

"Our advocate said everything is positive.. Let this be a positive thing for all film makers," the 18-year-old actor, who shot to limelight after a song from her debut film 'Oru Addar Love,' went viral, told reporters in Thrissur. The film's director said the verdict was a "big relief." "We are very excited.. Soon after the song went viral the entire team was celebrating when this news of filing of cases against us came.. The artistes who are all very young were highly tensed," Lulu told PTI.

The shooting of the film was held up for re-writing the script to give Varrier more prominence in the wake of her massive fan following in the social media. It will commence in the first week of March at Kochi, the director said, adding that only 20 per cent of the shooting had been completed.

"Priya had been called to do a small role which she did well and we decided to re-schedule her role. Now, there are five heroes and five heroines.. The script and climax has been changed giving her more prominence," he said. Varrier, a B.Com student hailing from Thrissur in Kerala, had sought quashing of the FIR lodged against her in Telangana and also wanted the apex court's direction to prohibit states from initiating any criminal proceedings against her.

PTI