BJP Hurt With Empuraan? ED Raids On Producer!

The L2: Empuraan controversy has witnessed a new twist. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today raided the offices of the film’s producer, Gokulam Gopalan, on Friday (Apr 4th) morning. The raids were conducted at Gopalan’s chitfund offices in Kerala and Kodambakkam, Chennai. However, details about the investigation have been kept undisclosed.

L2: Empuraan was released in theaters worldwide on March 27. The film has Malayalam star Mohanlal reprising his role as Khureshi Ab’raam aka Stephen Nedumpally. However, L2: Empuraan landed in a huge controversy due to the depiction of certain controversial incidents from the recent history. Several BJP leaders and right-wing activists objected to the picturisation of the said scenes. Following the backlash, Mohanlal apologised to the audience, and the film underwent re-censoring, ending up with 24 cuts, including the removal of the Special Thanks credit to sector Malayalam actor and BJP’s one and only MP in Kerala, Central Minister Suresh Gopi.

The ED raids are followed by the ongoing investigations into the allegations of fraudulent financial transactions involving producer Gopuram Gopalan. On the other hand, another section opines that the raids are BJP’s retaliation against the film L2: Empuraan and its makers.

Incidentally, L2: Empuraan was initially bankrolled by Subaskaran of Lyca Productions. However, Gokulam Gopalan entered the scene in the last minute and bailed out the film after Lyca Productions ran into a severe financial crunch. It’s worth mentioning that the ED had earlier questioned Gokulam Gopalan on alleged tax evasion charges at his Kochi office in April 2023.