As an analyst who has tracked the Dravidian school of polity, I’m not surprised that the protagonist’s original identity in the recently released movie Amaran was deliberately hidden and tweaked.
A section of the Brahmin community who add a little extra salt in their food have pointed out this deliberate tweaking done by the movie makers and vented out their ire in social media. There’s another section who is willing to give it a pass for the greater good of “nationalism” and bringing back Indian nationalism discourse in Kollywood. A few of them who are subservient to the Dravidiandom for the crumbs thrown to them have defended the tweak as well. A few innocent Brahmins with self defeatist mindset feel portraying a Brahmin hero in Tamil Cinema might hamper the commercial success of the movie and justify tweaking on this ground.
The legendary Shivaji Ganesan had portrayed numerous Brahmin protagonist roles and had delivered numerous blockbusters. Shankar had delivered two big hits ‘Gentleman’ and ‘Anniyan’ with Brahmin leads. Directors like Suresh Krishna too have delivered blockbusters with a Brahmin hero and storyline revolving around a Brahmin family as well. The hypothesis that a Brahmin hero on screen will not accepted by Tamil audience is completely misplaced and lacks evidence.
The same applies to politics. The state had 3 Brahmin Chief Ministers who ruled the state for 17 odd years. That’s 17 out of 77 years. And if the Tamil people were actually Brahmin haters, they would not have given chance to Brahmins to rule them for 17 odd years.
Brahmins are perceived to be the most caste neutral of all communities in the state which contributed to their significant support among the masses in pre-independence electoral contests. The Telugus and Mudaliar-led Justice Party was defeated by a Brahmins-led Congress in many electoral battles in the pre-independence era. The Dravidian elite communities, forming the core of the Justice Party, perceived that competing with Brahmins posed a challenge due to the latter’s broader acceptance among the masses. They probably felt that the only way they can win is by taking the Alpha Brahmin male out from the playing field itself.
Once the Dravidian elites ascended to power, they successfully drove away the Brahmins in fields like politics, judiciary, bureaucracy, teaching, medicine and cinema through policy action and by employing hitting-below-the-belt strategies.
And despite driving them away, the Dravidian elites are wary that Brahmins might make a comeback one day or the other like how an alpha Devendra Fadnavis gave a come back in Maharashtra.
To prevent that comeback, they resort to vicious propaganda 24×7 against the Brahmin community by labeling them as lazy, coward and vultures feeding on the oppressed, contrary to ground reality. One of the most popular campaigns they unleash is by portraying Brahmins as a community which doesn’t serve armed forces camouflaging the fact that 3 out of 4 Ashoka Chakra awardees from Tamil Nadu were Brahmins and the lone Tamilian to win Param Vir Chakra Award – Major Ramaswamy Parameswaran– was also a Brahmin.
Portraying Mukund as a Brahmin in the movie will go against this propaganda and the Dravidian elite ecosystem will be badly exposed. Hence there seems to be this deliberate concealing of the fact in Amaran.
We, Brahmins, aren’t worried too much. We will take this in our stride and move on. Serving the Army, winning the battles or laying down our lives for the nation is nothing new to us. We aren’t cowards. Our boy Paranjothi won Vatapi for Narasimha Varman. Our men Krishnan Raman, Arulmozhi Brahmarayan, Karunakara Thondaiman, Jananathan won numerous battles for the Cholas as commanders. Our man Ramappaiyer was the Army commander for Tirumalai Naicker. Jaganatha Iyer played a big role by assisting Marudu brothers and Gopala Naicker in fighting against the British. Mukund, Dinesh Raghu Raman, Parameshwaran, PM Raman have all won the highest gallantry award for Bravery in post independence era making us proud.
Dravidianists may get orgasmic pleasure in concealing our identity in reel world and denying our due. But in real life, we will produce thousands of Mukunds and Parameshwarans to defend our country. Afterall, we belong to the clan of Parashuraman. We enjoy the real life adrenaline rush unlike our rivals who enjoy the reel life orgasmic pleasure.
To sum up with a tweak from Bharathi’s song:
அச்சமில்லை அச்சமில்லை,
அச்சம் என்பதில்லையே!
திராவிடர்கள் எவ்வளவு முடக்க செய்தாலும்
துணிச்சலுடன் எதிர்த்து நின்று களமாடி வெற்றி பெற
அச்சமில்லை அச்சமில்லை,
அச்சம் என்பதில்லையே!
Achamillai Achamillai (There’s no fear, There’s no fear)
Acham Enbathilliye (There’ no fear at all)
Dravidargal Evvalavu Mudakka Seidhalum (No matter how hard the Dravidianists paralyze us)
Thunichaludan Edhirthu Nindru Kalamaadi Vettri Pera (To bravely resist and win)
Achamillai Achamillai (There’s no fear, There’s no fear)
Acham Enbathilliaiye! (There’s no fear at all)
(Nanmozhian is an entrepreneur based out of Chennai.)
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