The Times of India meanwhile reported Thursday that police in Tamil Nadu had arrested a woman over another video containing threats against the director.

The controversy is one of a growing number of instances in which depictions of Hindu gods have attracted accusations of religious insensitivity -- from Nestlé withdrawing KitKat chocolate bars wrappers featuring various deities to Rihanna facing backlash for posing topless with a pendant of the god Ganesha.

Kali, the Hindu goddess of death, time and doomsday, is worshipped throughout India. The wife of Shiva, she is often portrayed as blue or black, with a long tongue and multiple arms.

Manimekalai maintains that her depiction of the goddess is consistent with her own religious interpretation.

"In rural Tamil Nadu, the state I come from... she eats meat cooked in goat's blood, drinks (the alcoholic beverage) arrack, smokes beedi and dances wild(ly)," she said, adding that this is the version of Kali that "I grew up with and ... have embodied in the film."

Manimekalai plans to complete a director's cut of "Kaali", with a view to screening it at a film festival.

"I will continue to make art," she said.