The Supreme Court agreed to urgently hear the plea of 18-year-old actor Priya Prakash Varrier, who approached the Supreme Court against threats to her life from “fringe groups” who believe she insulted Islam.

Ms. Varrier's celluloid wink during a promotional song in the yet-to-be-released film Oru Aadar Love catapulted her to fame but also spelt trouble for her.

The Telangana and Maharashtra police have registered FIRs on the behest of certain groups, which have condemned the song for offending their religious sentiments. Ms. Varrier, an under-graduate student from Thrissur district in Kerala, said fatwas have been allegedly issued against her.

On Tuesday, a Bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra agreed to hear the plea on February 21.

Advocate Haris Beeran, in an urgent mentioning, submitted that Ms. Varrier was targetted merely because she worked in the film.

Ms. Varrier, in her petition, borrows a line from the order of the Supreme Court favouring the release of the movie Padmaavat to press her case for creative freedom. “When creativity dies, values of civilisation corrode,” the actor quoted the Supreme Court order of a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra to make her point.

In a joint petition filed in the apex court with the film's director, Ms. Varrier said the criminal proceedings instituted across several States shackled her fundamental rights to free speech and profession guaranteed under the Constitution.

“The registration of the criminal complaints and the registration of FIR by the States is nothing but a means to an end to stifle creativity,” Ms. Varrier, represented by Pallavi Pratap, argued.

She explained that the criminal proceedings were the result of a misunderstanding. She said the translations of the Malayalam song, which went viral online, have distorted the meaning of the song's lyrics. The lyrics were first written in 1978 and is cherished by the Muslim community in Kerala. The film had only used the same lyrics.

“The song Manikya Malaraya Poovi is a Mappila Song, or a traditional Muslim song from the Malabar region of Kerala, which praises the love between the Prophet Mohamed and his first wife Khadeeja. It is a part of the Muslim tradition in Kerala and does not offend any religious sentiment of any community or person,” the petition said.

“The complaints and the consequent registration of the FIR by non-Malayalam speaking States have been ignorantly done on the basis of wrong, translation and misunderstanding of the translated lyrics of the Malayalam Song,” Ms. Varrier argued.

Seeking the Supreme Court to quash the various FIRs and criminal proceedings, the actor said she directly approached the apex court to avoid going to the various high courts in the States where the criminal cases have been filed.

The petition said movie is yet to be completed and an amount of Rs.1.5 crore has already been spent on it. It said the court should intervene to prevent the petitioners from suffering “irreparable loss and injury”.