Chennai: Since the outbreak of COVID-19, film shoots have been stalled and theatres shut all over South India like in the rest of the world. However, controversies concerning our stars simply won’t die down. Here are some recent cases that have kept social media busy over the recent days.
DULQUER SALMAAN TICKS OFF TAMIL FANS: To begin with, at the wrong end of social media fire right now is Dulquer Salmaan. “Varane Avashyamund”, his self-produced Malayalam starrer, may have won him praise as an actor, but he is drawing negative response from Tamil viewers because of a ‘Prabhakaran joke’, which was misconstrued as a dig at the late Tamil leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. A scene in the film has actor Suresh Gopi calling a dog ‘Prabhakara’, which is a reference to a popular dialogue from the Malayalam movie “Pattanapravesham” (1988).
Since the joke was misunderstood, many social media users began abusing Dulquer Salmaan and director Anoop Sathyan for being insensitive towards Tamil sentiments and demanded an apology. Dulquer subsequently sought apology and explained the reference. He also said that abusing his parents and family is not okay.
MALAVIKA MOHANAN CALLS OUT SEXIST TWEET, THEN DELETES IT: Another star who has faced public ire lately is Malavika Mohanan. “Master” actor, Malavika called out a sexist tweet Sunday. The image feature cartoon versions of the “Master” movie crew, where the woman in question (Malavika) is seen in the kitchen, while the men including Vijay, Vijay Sethupathi seem to be relaxing.
She tweeted: “The task of a woman even in a hypothetical ‘movie house’ is to cook? When will gender roles die? Sigh.”
The tweet was followed by a slew of hate message from fans of superstar Vijay telling her that she has “crossed the limit”. Singer and me-too movement activist Chinmayi expressed solidarity with the actor and tweeted: “I have been at the receiving end of hate just for saying “I like xyz film”, nothing else. From that day on, I stopped saying which film I like.” She tweeted: “A professional actor questions a fan-made illustration for portraying HER ‘role’ in a way SHE didn’t like. She gets bullied, abused and harassed into deleting her tweet.”
JYOTHIKA’S VIEWS ON HOSPITALS AND TEMPLES DRAWS FLAK: A few days ago, a video of Jyothika’s speech from an award show received flak from religious groups. In the video Jyothika said that while she was shooting for the film “Raatchasi”, she visited a very famous temple in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu during the shooting. She spoke highly of the temple and said it looked like a palace. Next day, when she was shooting for a scene in a hospital in the same city, she noticed how badly maintained it was. She went on to request people to donate to hospitals, the same way they donate to temples, as hospitals are more important for people to survive. Her view, however, invited hate messages on social media. Religious groups said that she has hurt sentiments and asked her to apologise. Although she hasn’t given an official statement, she has received support from fans who said nothing is wrong in what she said.
