Movie star Actor Suriya’s home in T Nagar in Chennai has been given full Police protection because of the continuous column encompassing his film Jai Bhim, and those in the Vanniyar people group claiming that the film “discolored” their standing. The Police protection was given to the Actor Surya after an intel report which said that there is danger discernment. This comes after Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) Mayiladuthurai region secretary Panneerselvam declared to the media a prize of Rs 1 lakh for any individual who might assault the Actor Surya when he visits the area.
Panneerselvam had also approached the Police seeking action against Actor Suriya. On November 14, a group of PMK cadres led by him barged into a theatre in Mayiladuthurai district and forced the manager to stop screening of Suriya’s film. A lawful notification sent by the Vanniyar Sangam requested that the local area’s image of the furious fire pot be taken out from Jai Bhim, and an expression of remorse be given for “cursing, discoloring and harming the standing” of the local area. It further looked for payment for damages of Rs 5 crore.
Jai Bhim, though based on a true incident of custodial torture and death of a tribal man in 1995 in Tamil Nadu, contains 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 this was both criminal and civil defamation. Vanniyars, or the Vanniya Kula Kshatriyas, are a Most Backward Community in Tamil Nadu and are predominant in the northern districts of the state.
