Actor Suriya defends his film 'Jai Bhim' as defamation notice gets issued against it seeking Rs. 5 cr in compensation
A defamation notice has been sent by Tamil Nadu president of Vanniyar Sangam to actor Suriya and makers of movie Jai Bhim
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Chennai, November 16: A defamation notice has been sent by Tamil Nadu president of Vanniyar Sangam to actor Suriya and makers of movie Jai Bhim, alleging that defamatory scenes tarnishing the reputation of the Vanniyar Community have been intentionally included infilm.
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 unconditional apology from makers of the movie and has asked them to delete scenes portraying the Vanniyar Community in negative light and references to the Vanniyar Sangam, including the ‘Agni Kundam’ motif representing the community.
The notice also sought Rs. 5 crores in damages, which have to be paid within a period of 7 days from time and date of receipt of this notice.
The notice warns directors, producers, production company, and OTT platform Amazon of criminal action under Section 499, 500, and 505 of IPC if they fail to comply with the terms of the notice, along with other civil proceedings to claim damages.
The notice says though incidents shown in the movie are said to be based on real-life incidents, the character of the policeman responsible for custodial death is purposely depicted as belonging to Vanniyar caste. The notice says, “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.”
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Suriya came out defending himself and movie Jai Bhim, earlier in the week, after PMK leader and former Union Health Minister, Dr Ramadoss slammed the film for the unwarranted denigration of the Vanniyar community.
In response to Ramadoss’ criticism of the film, 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. I hope you are aware that corrections were carried out as soon as some people pointed out mistakes.”