Suriya’s ‘Jai Bhim’ controversy continues to trouble ‘Etharkkum Thunindhavan’ release too

It has become a new trend in Indian cinema, where some politicians and activists try to seek publicity by opposing the release of big hero films. Kannada political activist, Vital Nagaraj earlier went against the Tamil superstars by letting out a statement saying, “RAJINI, KAMAL FILMS WILL NOT RELEASE IN KARNATAKA.”

Now, famous actor Suriya is also facing a similar situation with some Tamil Nadu politicians in recent times. His last film ‘Jai Bhim’, which talks about brutality faced by downtrodden people, courted controversy for hurting the sentiments of certain community people. The movie was opposed by the PMK political party and the Vanniyar Sangam.

Now, the controversy has followed the charming hero to his next film, ‘Etharkkum Thunindhavan’, which is scheduled to be released on Thursday (March 11) in five languages. Now, ‘Etharkkum Thunindhavan’ finds itself in trouble as the PMK has requested Cuddalore area theatre owners not to screen the movie. PMK Student Union’s state secretary, Vijayavarman, has written a letter to the Theatres Owners Union regarding this.

The rough translation of the letter reads:

“Actor Surya has starred in ‘Jai Bhim’ movie that was released on November 2, 2021, directed by TJ Gnanavel and produced by 2D Entertainment. The film depicts the life of Irular community people, based on true incidents. In Jai Bhim, advocate Chandru was portrayed with the same name, all other characters are portrayed with the same name but SI Anthonysamy, a Dalit Christian, alone was portrayed as Gurumoorthy, a Vanniyar. The makers have shown the police sub-inspector role as a Vanniyar by showing the Vanniyar community symbol in his home and they have portrayed the whole Vanniyar people as casteists. The film was made in a way to create problems between Vanniyar and Irular community people, who are sharing a good friendship. On behalf of the PMK and the Vanniyar Sangam, we request that the film of actor Surya’s movies should not be screened in the Cuddalore district until he publicly apologises to the Vanniyar community people for the continuous derogatory portrayal of the Vanniyars as violent people in his films.”