Jyothika the darling of the masses in the nineties and 2000s married actor Suriya and settled down to family life in 2006 and after a nine-year hiatus made a comeback to cinema with ’36 Vayadhinile’ that became a blockbuster hit proving that her stardom is intact. She is now doing several women-centric films and is back as a busy actress just like in her career peak.
Recently in awards show Jyothika mentioned that she was fascinated by the 1010-year-old Pragatheeswar temple in Tanjore and is maintained like palaces in other states. At the same time she pointed out that while shooting a film in a hospital she was shocked to see it in such a bad condition that she cannot even mention it. She requested that like how she spoke in her film ‘Rathchasi’ people should donate to hospitals and schools instead of temples.
Jyothika’s speech has been severely criticized by Hindu outfits and religious supporters who questioned why she mentioned only temples and not churches or mosques. Director Ra Saravanan who is helming Jyothika’s new movie costarring Sasikumar has posted a clarification. He has stated that he is doing so because he is indirectly involved in the issue as it was during the shooting of his film that Jyothika saw the hospital in Tanjore.
According to Saravanan he wanted to highlight the life of Tanjore authentically in his film and that’s why opted to shoot in a live hospital instead of erecting sets. He praised Jyothika for agreeing to do so even though there was a threat of infections. The sight of the hospital affected Jo because there weren’t even separate maternity wards and women had to deliver babies in highly unhygienic surroundings and that’s what affected her. Saravanan has also mentioned that Jyothika shared with him that she loved the people of Tanjore very much and that’s what had inspired her to make her speech which is meant with good intentions and not hurting anyone’s sentiments.