A defamation notice has been sent by the Tamil Nadu president of Vanniyar Sangam to actor Suriya and makers of the movie Jai Bhim, alleging that defamatory scenes tarnishing the reputation of the Vanniyar Community have been intentionally included in the film.
The legal notice asked the filmmakers to “cease and desist from making or publishing any false, malicious and defamatory remarks against (the Vanniyar) community and its people.” It has sought an unconditional apology from the makers of the movie and has asked them to delete the scenes that portray the Vanniyar Community in negative light and references to the Vanniyar Sangam, which includes the ‘Agni Kundam’ motif that represents the community.
Besides, the notice also sought Rs 5 crores in damages, which have to be paid “within a period of seven days from the time and date of receipt of this notice.”
The notice warns the directors, producers, production company, and the OTT platform Amazon of criminal action under Section 499, 500, and 505 of the IPC if they fail to comply with the terms of the notice, along with other civil proceedings to claim damages.
The notice says though the incidents picturised in the movie are touted to be based on real-life incidents, the character of the policeman responsible for custodial death is deliberately depicted as belonging to the Vanniyar caste. “Our client states that you have retained the real names of the real characters in the real incident in the movie, but deliberately you have changed the name of the sub-inspector,” the notice reads.
In real life, the sub-inspector who is involved in the custodial death of the undertrial was one Anthonysamy, a Christian, and not a Hindu Vanniyar as shown in the movie, the notice observes.
The notice further notes that the makers of the movie had intentionally showed a calendar with the “Agni Kundam” motif in one of the scenes that is representative of the Vanniyar Sangam, in order to show that the sub-inspector belongs to the Vanniyar community. The notice alleges that it was done with “malafide intention of defaming the members of the Vanniyar Sangam and damaging the image and reputation of the entire Vanniyar community.”
Actor Suriya responds to criticism, says neither him, nor his film unit of Jai Bhim harboured any intention of insulting any particular community
Earlier last week, actor Suriya came out defending himself and the movie Jai Bhim after PMK leader and former Union Health Minister Dr Anbumani Ramadoss slammed the film for its unwarranted denigration of the Vanniyar community. In response to Ramadoss’ trenchant criticism of the movie, Suriya issued a statement saying, “The core concept of Jai Bhim is how, in a case argued by the retired Justice Chandru, a legal struggle was waged against the authorities to help establish justice. We have attempted to talk about the problems that indigenous people face in their everyday lives.”
Suriya had refuted the allegations that some scenes in Jai Bhim were a deliberate attempt to insult a particular community, stating that neither him, nor his team had harboured any intention at any point in time to insult any individual or community as mentioned by the PMK leader. “I hope you are aware that corrections were carried out as soon as some people pointed out mistakes,” Suriya had said.
