Anushka Sharma's gets legal notice over Casteist slur in 'Paatal Lok'

Pataal Lok, Anushka Sharma's first digital venture as a producer under Clean Slate Films, is in trouble. A legal notice has been issued to Anushka for hurting Gorkha sentiments in a particular scene on the show.

Viren Sri Gurung, a member of the Lawyers Guild sent Anushka, co-producer of Paatal Lok, a notice on Monday (May 18). A copy of the legal notice is with IndiaToday.in. The actress-producer or her team hasn't responded to the notice yet. In case of non-response, the matter will be escalated and Gurung will get in touch with Amazon Prime Video, the OTT platform on which the show was released, and other parties associated with the series.

The Lawyers Guild is a body formed to provide legal advice in the time of the novel coronavirus,



on cases specifically related to the virus. The dialogue, according to the notice, is especially problematic at a time when the Gorkha community is already enduring racism owing to the novel coronavirus.

The scene in question is an interrogation scene where a female police officer is heard hurling racial slurs at a Nepali character. Apart from 'Nepali', another word was used which was particularly unacceptable, Gurung said. "There is a clip wherein during an interrogation a lady police officer uses a casteist slur on a Nepali character. There wouldn’t 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, we have served her a notice," Gurung said in a statement.