{"id":24764,"date":"2013-08-23T21:04:33","date_gmt":"2013-08-24T01:04:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=24764"},"modified":"2013-08-23T21:24:47","modified_gmt":"2013-08-24T01:24:47","slug":"opposition-to-screening-of-madras-cafein-tamil-nadu-shows-sri-lankan-tamil-issue-is-still-relevant-in-state-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=24764","title":{"rendered":"Opposition to Screening of “Madras Cafe” in Tamil Nadu Shows Sri Lankan Tamil Issue is Still relevant in State Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

by <\/p>\n

G. Pramod Kumar<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"MC082213\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Going by the fate of two big Tamil films in the recent past \u2014 Kamal Hasan’s Vishwaroopam and Vijay’s Thalaivaa \u2014 both of which ran into political rough-weather, actor-producer John Abraham may not be able to release his Madras Cafe in Chennai and the rest of Tamil Nadu.
\n
\nHe has all the right to say that he won’t ‘fall prey to bullying tactics’ and he believes in ‘freedom of expression;’ but, if the theatres don’t want his film, all that he can do is only express outrage. And most often, the real reasons for theatres refusing to screen a film are never known. There may be some obvious triggers that we see, but the real reasons run far deeper.<\/p>\n

In the case of Madras Cafe, the chances of a no-show are very high because leaders of the pro-Eelam Tamil groups, particularly Nam Tamizhar, have seen it and they say that it paints the LTTE and its leader, Prabhakaran, as terrorists. Seeman, Leader of Nam Tamizhar, a highly vocal campaigner for the rights of Sri Lankan Tamils and even the LTTE, as well as Vaiko, Leader of the MDMK, another pro-Eelam Party, have sought a ban on the film.<\/p>\n

“The movie makes it appear as if the conflict was between the Government of India and Prabhakaran. Its screening should be prevented, not just in Tamil Nadu, but everywhere,” Seeman said.<\/p>\n

Another Tamil film director, R.K. Selvamani, said, “It looks like a movie funded by Rajapaksa and directed by Sonia Gandhi. I respect freedom of expression, but if it is only to justify the Government of India, it is not acceptable. It depicts Tamils as murderers. It is anti-Tamil. Every shot is a lie. The very first shot is wrong. It’s an effort to isolate Tamils.”<\/p>\n

In response, all that poor John Abraham says sounds very naive.<\/p>\n

“I respect everybody’s opinion. I respect Vaiko’s point of view and Seeman’s perspective. But it is very important that they also respect our opinion. This is a democracy. If the Censor Board has no objection with the film’s content and has given us an U\/A certificate, then I don’t think there is anything wrong with the film. They are most welcome to go and raise their objections. And in our part, we will definitely take the film to the audience.”<\/p>\n

What John doesn’t realize is that post-2009, when the Sri Lankan Government finished off the LTTE and its leadership including Prabhakaran in an internationally condemned war, the sentiments for Sri Lankan Tamils have completely changed in Tamil Nadu.<\/p>\n

Outfits that had been careful about expressing their support to the LTTE, a banned organization in India, openly started organizing rallies and meetings. Both Seeman and Vaiko had been jailed for their volatile speeches, but not anymore. In such a situation, it’s foolish to think that they will accept anything that paints the Tamil freedom fighters as ‘terrorists.’ John may be right from the perspective of the Indian establishment, because it had bitterly fought the LTTE, but the Tamil groups and parties had never ratified the intervention by India in 1987. If there is a movie that even remotely glorifies the intervention, it will certainly arouse passion.<\/p>\n

John can very well argue that Madras Cafe has been cleared by the Censor Board; but so were Vishwaroopam and Thalaivaa. In both the cases, there were threats to the theatres and the police said it couldn’t provide security.<\/p>\n

So now, the only way the film can be screened is if the police provides’ security. Will the theatres risk political ire and ask for security because they want to screen the film?<\/p>\n

Unlikely. Industry sources say that there are covert lines of communications by which the theatres get a sense of what is right and what is not.<\/p>\n

Sri Lankan Tamil issue is still relevant in Tamil Nadu politics and it will certainly play some part in the 2014 elections as well. DMK attributed its pull-out from the UPA to the government’s inability to act tough on Sri Lanka. Not to be left behind on Madras Cafe, the DMK also has asked the State government to take appropriate action after looking into the charges made by Seeman and Vaiko.<\/p>\n

The State government is unlikely to take a decision to support the film. Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, since 2009, has been steadfast in her support to the Sri Lankan Tamils. It had been one of her key poll-issues for both the 2009 Parliamentary elections and 2011 Assembly elections. Why should she change it for a movie?<\/p>\n

If what Seeman, R.K. Selvamani and pro-Eelam students say about the movie are true, Chennaiites will most likely not be able to see Madras Cafe.<\/p>\n

COURTESY:FirstPost<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by G. Pramod Kumar Going by the fate of two big Tamil films in the recent past \u2014 Kamal Hasan’s Vishwaroopam and Vijay’s Thalaivaa \u2014 both of which ran into political rough-weather, actor-producer John Abraham may not be able to release his Madras Cafe in Chennai and the rest of Tamil Nadu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24764"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24764"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24781,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24764\/revisions\/24781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}