Asuran Director Vetrimaaran has come under scrutiny for distorting the original story of Poomani’s Vekkai to promote Dravidianist “oppressed, depressed, suppressed” narratives. The film Asuran, which was originally about the long struggle of the Panchami land issue, was altered to frame the story as a Dalit struggle against caste-based oppression, misrepresenting the true essence of the novel. Author Jeyamohan criticized this shift, highlighting that Vekkai was not about untouchability but a fight over land rights, a crucial detail that was lost in Vetrimaaran’s portrayal.
Vetrimaaran’s Bad Girl
The release of the teaser of the Dravidianist director-produced film Bad Girl has sent several ripples across social media platforms and days after its release, people are still debating about the teaser and about the producers, especially about the left-leaning Dravidianist director Vetrimaaran and his Brahmin-hate and caste-based films.
Netizens questioned if the producers and other supporters like Pa Ranjith and Vijay Sethupathi would prefer if their daughters or the women in their families would follow what was preached in the film.
Vetrimaaran, a true-blue Dravidianist, hails from a family that owes its allegiance to the DMK. His maternal uncle Ela. Pugazhendi was a 3-time DMK MLA from Cuddalore. It was Pugazhendi who named him Vetrimaaran. Pugazhendhi’s father Ere. Elamvazhuthi was also a DMK MLA from Cuddalore and had worked closely with rabid anti-Hindu demagogue E.V. Ramasamy Naicker (known as Periyar by his followers) and also with CN Annadurai and Karunanidhi. So, the anti-Hindu DNA runs in the family. He has regularly peddled the Dravidian Stockist propaganda in his films.
Did you know that the film Asuran was supposed to be based on a story titled Vekkai? But what is interesting is that Vetrimaaran distorted the original story written by Sahitya Akademi award winner Poomani to peddle the Dravidianist “oppressed, depressed, suppressed” propaganda.
Here’s what author Jeyamohan had to say about it. Speaking at an event, he said, “The problem with this is that when the story of Vekkai was made in the name of Asuran. Neither those who directed it nor the people who released the film know the background of the Pallar community. They changed it into a Dalit issue. They depicted the story as if these people were not allowed to wear slippers when walking in the village. The community people got angry because no such thing happened. No one says that Pallars should not wear slippers. To add to this, people will advise you to not get beaten up by Pallars. So, they changed the story of another caste into their caste issue, there was a big social divison and the novel was misunderstood. The story of Vekkai is not about untouchability or caste-based cruelty or oppression but it is about land that was unlawfully grabbed and the story of the struggle to reclaim it.”
It is noteworthy that the story of Vekkai is about the long struggle of the Panchami land issue told in a more compassionate way and realistically while conveying the message subtly.
Also, Vetrimaran twisted the context of the novel that he made into movie to show the community in a different way. Author of the novel cameout openly stating movie doesn't represent his work. Jemo on that topic here. https://t.co/puCa1nEXGp pic.twitter.com/34KIvWqFdu
— hi_there (@hi_there_2023) January 29, 2025
How He Chickened Out And Yielded To Pressure From Mukkulathor Community To Mute ‘Aanda Parambarai’ Word In Asuran Film
In a past interview, Vetrimaaran discussed his challenges with Asuran, mentioning that the Dravidian movement’s strong influence in Tamil Nadu has allowed filmmakers the freedom to present their ideologies. He said, “The challenge I had with Asuran was that it’s not just a non-political film, it’s a Dalit film where the protagonist is a Dalit, and he’s not meek—he stands up for what’s right and brings down upper-caste people. This was the most challenging aspect for me, as there was a lot of speculation during pre-production and shooting. We didn’t want to offend anyone because we were simply stating facts, and we wanted people to understand the film. We wanted Dalits to see themselves represented, and for non-Dalits to understand what happened in the past and how their parents or grandparents were responsible. That was the challenge we faced, which is why we refrained from mentioning any specific caste.”
Despite this approach, Vetrimaaran’s portrayal of a Dalit protagonist in Asuran was met with criticism. In 2019, when Vetrimaaran inserted the “Aanda Parambarai” dialogue in Asuran, several community members including actor-politician Karunas personally contacted the director, urging him to remove the line from the theatrical version. The phrase means ‘Ruling Clan’, and the community members felt it referred to their Mukkulathor community.
Audio recordings of these calls surfaced on YouTube, showcasing how respectfully he agreed to mute the dialogue in response to the callers.
In the leaked audio recordings, representatives from the community like Aapanadu Maravar Sangam, and Mukkulathor Munnetra Sangam, among many speak to him about the said phrase and how the scene involves people talking about land and money grabbing portraying their community in a negative light. They advised him that films should promote social harmony and said that they were upset with the developments while asking him to make changes to the film. To this, we find Vetrimaaran responding very politely saying he will do what he can to make the changes within a couple of days. A subsequent caller from the community called once again only to get the response that he was going to remove the phrase in a day. He also adds that it was not his intention to hurt anyone and that it was a mistake. He also explains why it takes the given amount of time to remove the phrase.
He also promises to release a press note and make a public announcement with respect to the same issue. People from the community also mildly warn him not to do anything similar in the future.
As a result, the line was eventually removed in the censored version, which was redistributed across theaters.
Vetri took great care to not explicitly spell out any "dominant" comm in Asuran.
Because he know there'd be consequences.
But a free pass is given to all D directors to represent Tamil Brahmins however they want, cuz there's no fear of consequences. pic.twitter.com/3RWuPjdj5X
— Tamil Labs 2.0 (@labstamil) January 29, 2025
Vetrimaaran: A Hypocrite Of The First Order?
Vetrimaaran also said that art is for people and that it should reflect the society in which we live. He talked about the ‘erasure of identities’.
“We should handle art responsibly. If we don’t, our identities will be taken from us. Constantly our identities are being snatched away.”, he said.
Vetrimaaran should have thought twice before making this statement. In his film Vada Chennai, he portrayed the people of (Meenavar) fishermen community of north Chennai as if they were involved only in piracy, drugs, goondaism, and crime. He had shown the women folk as lacking decency and using cuss words. The Meenavar community which includes communities like Pattanavar, Paravars, and Sembadavars have a glorious history in seafaring. The Pattanavars are a maritime community densely populated in Chennai, Kanchipuram, Cuddalore, Vizhupuram, and Nagapattinam districts of Tamil Nadu. They have traditionally been involved in fishing, shipment, navy, and trade. They had served as naval forces under various Tamil kings. According to historian Hermann Kulke, the Pattanavars were instrumental in the organization and exploits of the Chozha Navy. Yet, Vetrimaaran chose to snatch away this glorious history and identity of Meenavars and showed them as uncouth people.
Overall, it is pretty clear that the likes of Vetrimaaran want to carry out a certain propaganda and it is clear as crystal that it is the Dravidianist propaganda – insert lies and plant fake stories, use the Brahmin as your punching bag and rake in the benefits.
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