Chennai Nov 21 PTI Actor Suriya starrer flick Jai Bhim director Tha Se Gnanavel on Sunday said there was absolutely no intention of hurting any particular community and expressed regret to those who were offendedJai Bhim that was released on November 1 in languages including Tamil and Telugu kicked up a row in Tamil Nadu with the Vanniyar Sangam and members of the community alleging that it had portrayed them in bad light The movie was released in OTT platform Amazon-Prime VideoEmphasising that there was not even a wee little bit of thought to cause affront to any individual or a community in the making of the film Gnanavel said I convey my heartfelt regret to those offended and anguished The film director also expressed regret for the difficulty caused to Suriya in the wake of the controversy who is the lead actor and Jai Bhim producerThe crux of the row is the alleged vilification of the Vanniyar community by naming a wicked police sub inspector as Guru Gurumurthy and showcasing the raging fire pot symbol of the community in a calendar in the background in one of the scenes and the foreground had the police SI who tortured the innocent tribal man to deathI 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 a statementDuring filming or post-production the calendar footage that appears for a few seconds did not catch their attention he saidAlso even before the film premiered on Amazon Prime it was exhibited for several people Had it come to our notice during that time we would have changed it before its release After they got to know about the calendar in the background through social media after its release all efforts were made to change it on the following day morning itself he saidAs the calendar in the background was changed even before anyone demanded it I believed that everyone will understand that we had no ulterior motive the director saidIt is unfortunate to ask Suriya to own up responsibility As the director this is a matter I alone has to take responsibility The film though based on a true incident of custodial torture and death of a Koravar tribal man in 1995 in Tamil Nadu it had elements of fictionThe flick portrayed the tribal man as belonging to the Irula tribes The names of people connected to the real life incident like that of Justice Chandru who had argued the case in the Madras High Court as an advocate were retainedSome names like that of Rajakannus wife original name Parvathi changed to Sengenni and the police sub inspector who tortured leading to the death of the tribal man was changed from Anthonysamy to Guru Gurumurthy The calendar that was replaced had an image of Goddess LakshmiThe Vanniyar Sangam had on November 15 sent a legal notice to makers Jai Bhim alleging that the flick tarnished the reputation of Vanniyar community and sought an unconditional apology from themRemoval of references to Vanniyar communitys 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 that legal noticeVanniyars or Vanniya Kula Kshatriyas a Most Backward Community in Tamil Nadu are predominant in the northern districts of the state The Vanniyar Sangams symbol is also the raging fire pot PTI VGN ROH ROH

Chennai Nov 18 PTI The Vanniyar Sangam up in arms against actor Suriya for the alleged controversial portrayal of the community in his latest film Jai Bhim has approached the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry and the Tamil Nadu Information and Public Relations Department not to consider the movie for any appreciation recognition or awardThe film according to Pu Tha Arulmozhi state president of Vanniyar Sangam does not deserve any recognition or appreciation despite the storyline based upon real life incident to exhibit the misery undergone by an underprivileged man and his wife owing to the mischievous sequences deliberately inserted in the movie for the purpose of damnifying the particular community In a representation to the governments made through his advocate K Balu Arulmozhi urged the authorities not to entertain Jai Bhim for any appreciation recognition or award My client states that the scenes in the movie amount to offend under sections 153 153 A 499 503 504 505 IPC and his team continuously indulging in activities of degrading and defaming the most backward and downtrodden communities like Vanniyars and other communities Hence my client calls upon you not to consider the movie for giving any appreciation or recognition either by considering for national award or any other award whatsoever Balu said in the representation on ThursdayCertain scenes were deliberately included in Jai Bhim to create communal disharmony between the Vanniyar community and another community This irresponsible depiction of Vanniyar community in poor light is deliberate and the producers and director cannot claim innocenceUnder the guise of freedom of expression they cannot defame particular section in the society A different and negative picture was painted in the movie contrary to the truth as seen in real life when the Vanniyar community people stood for the social justice The true story has been deliberately twisted with a view to malign the image of Vanniyar community and lower their reputation in the eyes of the people of all other communities he saidThe film released on OTT platform by Amazon distorted truth and twisted facts and displayed a calendar with Agni Kundam - the symbol of Vanniyar Sangam and named the sub inspector of police who tortured the victim in police custody as Gurumurthy after a popular leader of the Vanniyar community The depiction aimed at creating communal disharmony in the country But the real name of the police official was Anthonysamy he said and also claimed that the sub inspector who commits the grave crime does not belong to the Vanniyar communityFurther Arulmozhi who is contemplating filing civil and criminal case against the production team for deliberate mischief done by them has already issued a legal notice on November 15 to the producer director and Amazonin asking them to remove the defamatory scenes and any references to the community and its symbol of Agni Kundam in Jai Bhim immediately Also he had demanded an unconditional apology for having produced and released the film on OTT platform for public viewing with the objectionable scenes Apart from seeking them to deist from screening the false malicious and defamatory remarks against the Vanniyar community Arulmozhi demanded damages to the tune of Rs 5 crore within 7 days from the time of receipt of this notice PTI JSP ROH ROH

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], November 17 (ANI): Armed security personnel have been deployed at the residence of Tamil Actor Suriya at his T Nagar residence in Chennai, on Wednesday, following a threat call by Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) Mayiladuthurai district secretary Palanisamy for allegedly 'tarnishing' the reputation of Vanniyar community in Jai Bhim movie.