Playing games with Hanuman ji - Protest Sony

[Guest guest]

My dear Hindu Bandhuon,

Sony has introduced a video game Play Station 2 titled Hanuman - The Boy

Warrior. I had sent in my letter of protest at the blasphemous nature of

this game to:

Atindriya_Bose

Following is my letter to Sony and the reply received.

I urge people who receive this mail to send in your protests to Sony and

demand the game be instantly withdrawn and the company apologized to the

Hindus. Please let it be known clearly in your mail that you will

boycott Sony products and will urge your friends in the email list to do

the same. It works.

---

Dear Shri Bose,

As a Hindu, I strongly protest your video game based on one of most

revered Gods, Hanuman ji.

It is downright insulting to the Hindus and we demand that the game be

forthwith withdrawn from the market and scrapped.

I am piqued that such large corporations like the Sony does not respect

the sentiments of the practitioners of the most ancient of all

religions. I challenge you to make a game featuring Allah or Prophet

Mohammed, you dare not, because you are shit scared of the consequences

of offending the practitioners of a violent religion.

If you persist with this attitude, large corporations like Sony, I am

afraid, are encouraging even the most peace-loving Hindus to turn

violent against such cultural vandalism.

I trust good sense will prevail on Sony. I have already started a email

campaign to my list (that has over 5000 ids) and have urged each one to

pass to all their list members to start BOYCOTTING Sony products until

good sense will prevail on you to not only withdraw the blasphemous game

but also to apologise to the Hindus.

Namaste, S V Badri Chennai India

Sony's reply to me:

from Atindriya_Bose to S V Badri <svbadri

date Tue, May 5, 2009 at 10:10 AM subject Re: I protest mailed-by

scee.net hide details 10:10 AM (22 hours ago)

[khes/images/cleardot.gif] Reply

[khes/images/cleardot.gif] Hello Mr.

Badri, Namaskar. At the onset, I thank you for writing directly

expressing your feelings about the new game of Hanuman : Boy Warrior. We

take your concerns very seriously and would also like to reassure you

towards our seriousness towards the divine nature of Hanumanji.

 

The game, Hanuman : Boy Warrior, which is currently only available in

India, was developed with inspiration from the Hindu mythology and at

every step, prominent Indian scholars were consulted. The aim of the

game has always been to encourage young Indians to celebrate the stories

of Lord Hanuman and to help bring these key lessons to life. The

characterisation of Hanuman is true to the actual depictions in Indian

mythology, both in terms of the look as well as the powers that he has.

The game has been developed with the Indian value systems and depicts a

merciful winning of Good over Evil, something that is synonymous with

Hanuman as a character. When creating the game, at no stage were any

liberties taken to deviate from the divine power and nature of Hanuman.

The endeavour actually focusses on using the powerful interactive form

to bring the various mythological characters of India to the Indian

audience.

 

We have full respect for Lord Hanuman and the devotion Hanumanji evokes

- all these values have been imbibed in the storyline. I sincerely hope

that your concerns over the game is addressed and you will also

recognise the respect with which the whole game was created.

 

Regards,

Atindriya Bose