The film Jai Bhim, starring Suriya; now streaming on Amazon Prime, has been met with mixed reactions from political circles.
At the same time, the film's controversy is far from done.
After the Vanniyar Sangam state president filed a legal notice to the team behind Jai Bhim, including director TJ Gnanavel, several people rushed to social media on Monday, November 15, to support actor Suriya.
The legal complaint demanded an unequivocal apology and the removal of disparaging scenes.
The Vanniyar Sangam on Monday sent a legal notice to makers of actor Surya-starrer 'Jai Bhim' movie, alleging that the film tarnished the reputation of Vanniyar community and sought an unconditional apology from them.
Removal of references to Vanniyar community's revered symbol of raging fire pot, an apology for "damning, tarnishing and damaging the reputation" of the community, desisting from similar "malicious" moves and payment of Rs 5 crore in damages were the demands made in the legal notice.
In case of non-compliance, the Jai Bhim team including the producers, director and actor Suriya, who performed the lead role would be liable for proceedings under both the civil and criminal laws for causing loss of reputation and bringing mental agony, the notice, which was also sent to the OTT platform Amazon (Prime Video) that released the film.
The film, though based on a true incident of custodial torture and death of a tribal man in 1995 in Tamil Nadu it had elements of fiction.
The crux of the allegations found in the notice is that the Vanniyar community was shown in 'poor light, vilified by naming the wicked police sub inspector as 'Guru' (Gurumurthy) and by showcasing the fire pot symbol of the community and these were both criminal and civil defamation.
According to the notice, naming a villainous character after a well known Vanniyar community leader Guru, who was also a former MLA, and this aspect, when juxtaposed with the holy fire pot symbol would establish the malicious intent.
Right after the Vanniyar Sangam state president filed a legal notice to the Jai Bhim team , netizens took to Twitter to support Suriya.
Have a look at a few reactions:
