SC quashes FIR against viral winking girl Priya Prakash Varrier

priya-varrier Actress Priya Prakash Varrier

The Supreme Court on Friday quashed an FIR filed against Malayalam actress Priya Prakash Varrier for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.

A complaint was filed by a group from Hyderabad against Priya Prakash Varrier and makers of the Malayalam song Manikya Malaraya Poovi, from the movie Oru Adaar Love. The group alleged that the song hurts sentiments of Muslims. The case was heard by a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud. According to reports, Dipak Misra said to the state counsel: “Somebody in a film sings a song and you have no other job but to file a case.”

The song went viral in February for a scene which features actress Priya Prakash Varrier flirtatiously winking at a boy, and playing around with her eyebrows. She garnered one million followers on Instagram in just a single day, reportedly becoming the fastest Indian celebrity to do so. As per the latest Google trends reports, Priya Prakash Varrier outstripped even Bollywood stars like actor Deepika Padukone, and Sunny Leone in number of searches.

Priya Prakash Varrier is a first year B.Com student at Vimala college, Thrissur, in Kerala. Her father, Prakash, works with the central excise, and mother Preetha is a homemaker.

She had earlier said, in an interview with Onmanorama, that she was speechless by the response to the song. "I have acted in three short films, all shot within a year. I am also into modelling and have participated in beauty pageants. I am a dancer. I love performing Mohiniyattam. I also learn classical music. I used to post my pictures and videos on Instagram and Facebook. When I got call from Omar to confirm my lead character, it was like a dream come true. Though I have bagged prizes in school youth festivals, I never thought I would debut as a lead character in a movie," Priya Prakash said.