Dravidianists in Kollywood using cinema as a tool to vilify Hindus, glorify Dravidian ideologues and propagate Dravidian propaganda of so-called ‘social justice’, ‘rationalism’ and what not, is nothing new. However, this time, a DMK sympathizing filmmaker Vasanthabalan has gone on to justify political corruption.
Vasanthabalan shot to fame with his debut film Veyil, produced by Shankar’s S production. His other film Angadi Theru, based on the lives of people working in textile showrooms in Ranganathan Street too became a hit. His other film Kaaviya Thalaivan, a period drama starring Siddharth and Prithviraj Sukumaran received critical acclaim but didn’t perform well in box office. There after his cinematic graph has been downhil. After a long hiatus, he’s now come with his latest series titled “Thalaimai Seyalagam” on Zee5 which is nothing but a boring Dravidian propaganda with no nuance.
Vasanthabalan’s narrative justifying corruption occurs against the backdrop of the BJP government going after corrupt dynastic parties. In Tamil Nadu prominent DMK politician Senthil Balaji is behind bars for corruption and action is awaited on many other bigwigs.
Now, with a DMK sympathizer like Vasanthabalan attempting to normalize corruption through cinema, it becomes alarming. As these films reach people’s homes, they may spread the notion that political corruption and profiteering shouldn’t be considered a big deal and must be normalized and made acceptable.
In a recent interview to the ‘Take Left’ YouTube channel Vasanthabalan has opened up his views and acknowledged that his ideas emerge from inspiration from communism and related figures. One of the anchors who interviewed him was ‘Minor’ who runs the rabid anti-Hindu YouTube channel U2 Brutus which had abused Lord Nataraja.
The interview began with a question about why the series was named “Thalaimai Seyalagam” (Secretariat). Vasanthabalan explained that the series focuses on the chief minister’s office, depicting the power struggles associated with the position. He described the legislative process of passing bills in parliament and questioned how a councilor, earning a mere 5000 rupees, can fulfill their duties after spending significant amounts of money to win the election.
Most of the interview centered on his reasons for choosing this series and the plot. As usual, he subtly reinforced the Dravidian ideology in Tamil Nadu, highlighting how it provided opportunities for everyone to study, in contrast to North India, where his mindset often revolved around same Dravidianists thought of hardworking but low-skilled labor. However, what was concerning in the interview was that both the YouTube channel and the host appeared to be promoting the idea of ignoring the issue of corruption.
The host praised Vasanthabalan, expressing admiration for a particular line in his series: “In the name of abolishing corruption, they will demolish democracy.” The host noted that even the leftist parties wouldn’t make such a statement and asked how Vasanthabalan arrived at this conclusion, suggesting that he believes corruption isn’t the main issue here.
Vasanthabalan replied, “I pay close attention to politics, not as much as you, and I pay attention to it whenever I get time. The way I see it is, free rice comes to someone who doesn’t deserve it. They give that rice to their maid, who also sells it outside without using it. An idli vendor buys that rice on the road and sells the idli for 50 paisa. So the fund given by a government gets stolen somewhere, it benefits someone, and finally it reaches me as an idli for 50 paisa. Jeyaranjan (Dravidian Stock economist who is currently Vice-Chairperson of the State Development Policy Council) expressed this view in an interview. I really liked this idea.”
He added, “Let’s take a member from a particular community, he comes to a position, he commits a corruption of five crore rupees. But what he will do with those five crores is that he will marry his daughter, give that money to the ten people in that community, this money will be used for the emergence of that community… This will be a way for that community to study, to raise the standard of living or to improve the community. But he has done corruption, I am not saying no. But how I see is, it will take nearly 50 years for that community to advance. But somehow this money reaches the people.”
Vasanthabalan later remarked that while he was aware of the widespread agreement on the need to eliminate corruption, he went a step further to investigate the “red coin” and uncover its propagators, leading him to some insightful discoveries. He then praised Director Vetrimaaran for positively shaping the perception of the name “Asuran,” Director Ranjith for presenting Ravanan in a favorable light, and Director Maari Selvaraj for depicting a pig beautifully. Inspired by these examples, Vasanthabalan incorporated the concept of the “red coin” into his series to showcase its hidden aspects, he said.
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