Even as Vaazha 2 became the fifth movie to enter the 200 crore club and continues to rake in more at the box office, the movie is also facing heat due to other reasons.
A recent controversy between the Ayurveda Medical Association and the makers of Vaazha 2 has sparked a heated debate at the intersection of cinema and traditional medicine.
Vaazha 2, a much-anticipated follow-up to the original Malayalam film Vaazha, reportedly includes scenes and dialogues that the association claims misrepresent Ayurvedic practices. According to members of the Ayurveda Medical Association, certain sequences inaccurately depict treatments, potentially misleading audiences about the effectiveness and scientific basis of Ayurveda.
What is the Vaazha 2 controversy about?
A character portrayed in the movie Vazha 2 consumes arishtam, a traditional ayurvedic medicine and is linked to a medical condition. This scene has been objected to by some Ayurvedic practitioners who call it misleading.
How are netizens reacting to this controversy?
Dr Abby Philips, popularly known as The Liver Doc on social media, has voiced his support for the makers of Vaazha 2, called arishtam, a herbal liquor, with 10-15 per cent alcohol.
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" The people behind the movie are intelligent and well-informed. For decades, the Ayurveda community has been feeding public and patients the narrative that herbal medicine is safe and effective, even the ones containing toxic botanicals and alcohol. This narrative is now being challenged because there is a large body of peer-reviewed evidence that without reasonable doubt show that Ayurvedic herbals can be extremely toxic to the liver, sometimes even leading to death or liver transplantation. Now the movie format is bringing this to public's notice," his post on X (formerly Twitter) mentioned.
He also mentions a case study of a 14-year-old who developed severe alcohol-related hepatitis due to long-term use of a similar medication as mentioned in the movie for epilepsy management.
While a section of people on social media called out the ayurvedic practices, another section came out in support of the association, asking for the removal of such scenes.