The director said that it is unfair to target actor Suriya for the controversy, who is the film's protagonist and its co-producer.
The Tamil legal drama 'Jai Bhim' has been in the middle of controversies since its streaming release on Amazon Prime Video earlier this month. After the Vanniyar Sangam community had issued a legal notice to its director TJ Gnanavel and actor Suriya for allegedly defaming their community in the film, the film's director took to Twitter on Sunday to issue an apology for hurting the sentiments of “any particular community” and expressed regret to those he offended.
The filmmaker added in his statement, which he wrote in Tamil, that he takes full responsibility for the controversy and it is unfair to target actor Suriya for the same, who is the film's protagonist and its co-producer along with his wife Jyothika. The film is inspired by a real-life incident from the 1990s in Tamil Nadu when an innocent tribal person was falsely accused of theft, tortured in custody, and eventually lost his life. Suriya essays the character of an advocate Chandru in the film, based on Justice K. Chandru who fought for the deceased man's wife in real life.
The Vanniyars were offended by the portrayal of the police sub-inspector, named Guru (Gurumoorthy) who tortures the tribal man to death in the film. In the same scene, a calendar can be seen in the background with a fire raging pot, which also happens to be the symbol of the Vanniyars.
“I did not know that a calendar hung in the background will be understood as a reference to a community. It is not our intention to make it a symbol of reference to a particular community and it was only to reflect the period, the year 1995,” Gnanavel claimed in his statement. He said that the calendar did not catch their attention during the filming or post-production or even when the film was exhibited to the people, before its streaming release, otherwise the team would have changed the calendar before the release itself.
The calendar in the controversial scene was changed the next day after the film premiered. “As the calendar in the background was changed even before anyone demanded it, I believed that everyone will understand that we had no ulterior motive,” Gnanavel added.
Vanniyars is one of the most backward communities in Tamil Nadu, predominant in the northern districts of the state.
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 "'Jai Bhim' director issues an apology, says don't blame Suriya")
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