M H Jawahirullah, the MLA from Papanasam and the leader of the Manithaneya Makkal Katchi, has surprisingly raised strong objections to the film “Amaran”, accusing it of portraying the entire Muslim community as terrorists. The movie is based on the real-life story of Major Mukund Varadarajan, who played a key role in the 2014 counter-terror operation in Shopian, Jammu and Kashmir. Jawahirullah urged political leaders to reconsider their support for the film.
Directed by Rajkumar Periyasamy, “Amaran” features notable performances by Sivakarthikeyan and Sai Pallavi and has garnered attention for its action sequences shot in the challenging terrains of Kashmir. The film is based on the heroic deeds of Major Mukund Varadarajan, a soldier in the 44th Battalion of the Rashtriya Rifles, who was involved in significant military operations in the region.
Despite receiving widespread praise from political figures such as TN BJP chief and former IPS officer Annamalai, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin, and Anbumani Ramadoss, the film has been starting to get criticism from some Dravidianist and now Jawahirullah. He took to social media platform X to express his concerns, claiming that “Amaran” unfairly portrays land rights activists in Kashmir as extremists and terrorists, while also casting a negative light on the Muslim community as a whole.
Jawahirullah argued that the film injects harmful ideological elements, similar to films like “The Kashmir Files” and “The Kerala Story” and accused it of fueling hatred against Muslims.
He wrote, “A recently released movie titled Amaran portrays the land rights activists as terrorists and engages in micro-ideological terrorism that spreads the hatred on the entire Muslim community. Progressive critics have established with evidence that Amaran is a film that artfully injects the deceit ideology of films like Kashmir Files and Kerala Story like a needle into a banana.”
“The film is produced by Kamal Haasan’s company, which has been condemned for artistically imposing the stigma of terrorism on the Muslim community by making and acting in the films Unnaipol Oruvan and Vishwaroopam. Mrs. Vanathi Srinivasan, the BJP executive who defeated him in the election, appreciates that the film should be screened in schools,” he added.
“What other proof can there be that this film is the mold that emerged in the action plan of the Sanghi’s battlefield war movie, to seed poison in the hearts of youth. In the name of art, the film stigmatizes the thousands of miserable women living in the brutal condition of ‘half-widows’ in Kashmir. Many of those who fought democratically for land rights and independence were hunted down by ferocious beasts hiding in uniforms. Tens of thousands of people disappeared. How cruel it is that the film portrays all of them as terrorists without showing any sympathy towards them…!” he questioned.
“The reception from “sanghis” proves that the movie Amaran has done the same kind of distortion that flawed movies like Thuppakki and Viswaroopam did. The political leaders of Tamil Nadu should come to a simple stance that anything that the Sangh Parivar and their political wing BJP is praising is not good for Tamils and is against social justice. The communal BJP government’s justification for abrogation of Article 370, which gave special status to Kashmir, is not art but murder of justice,” he stated.
“It is also sad that many leaders are praising the film for its toxic anti-Muslim elements without knowing its micro-politics, and this should be avoided in future. We have awarded and honored the directors of the films of the talented artistes of the film industry such as Maanaadu, Maamanithan, Ayothi, Merku Thodarchi Malai, Jai Bhim on the conference platform of Manithaneya Makkal Katchi. Films like Nandan and Meiyazhagan that have been released are commendable. The above films were films promoting humanity and social harmony rather than promoting hatred, a agenda of the Sanghis,” he further added.
“Let us honor the heroic sacrifice of Veer Mukund Varadarajan and at the same time note that hundreds of lives sacrificed belonging to Muslim, backward, most backward and underprivileged communities have been blacked out without giving such light. Just like Tamilnadu is fighting for its state rights, people of Kashmir are fighting for their land. Throwing a artificial darkness of cinema and distorting their struggle for rights and hiding the atrocities done to them and continuing to portray them as terrorists in people’s minds is an act of ignorance without knowledge,” he further added.
“The RSS Sangh Parivar is the only organization which has not adopted the Indian national flag for half a century and has not hoisted it in its office. Its descendants need not lecture Muslims on patriotism. We urge the film industry not to continue the work of destroying social harmony through films that distort history and sow hatred. Indian Muslims have never been in a situation to learn about patriotism from Sanghis,” he stated
“The people who lived by the catching tail and foot of the white man should learn patriotism by reading the histories of thousands of Muslims who fought against the white imperialism of slave India and laid down their lives for this land in the many battlefields for independent India. Our soldier Havildar Abdul Hamid, who took part in the war against Pakistan in 1965 within a few days of his marriage, lost his life by destroying 8 army tanks in Pakistan. He was also awarded the Param Vir Chakra, the highest military award of the Government of India. He was also praised in the Government Gazette of 1965. In the Kargil war too, many Muslims including Kunnoor Abdul Sattar from Tamil Nadu, our Tamils have sacrificed their lives for our country,” he finally stated.
In 2023, Jawahirullah’s party erected banners that derogated Hindu gods and Bharat Mata to target the Modi Government on the Manipur violence. The banner showed caricatured images of Narendra Modi as Lord Ram and Amit Shah as Lord Lakshman holding bow and arrows standing on either sides of a naked woman (Goddess Sita), hinting at the horrific incident in Manipur in which a woman was paraded naked and sexually assaulted. Following The Commune’s report, he apologised for erection of such banners by his party cadres.
Contradicting to what MMK chief Jawahirullah said, the film sparked controversy, particularly among some Dravidianist groups, who felt threatened by the rising nationalist tone in cinema. These critics claimed that “Amaran” wasn’t just promoting nationalism but was dangerously leaning into Islamophobia. This criticism fueled a heated debate, with Muslim leaders denouncing the film.
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