On 2 March 2023, Lyca Productions announced that they would be producing Rajinikanth’s next film (tentatively titled Thalaivar 170) which will be directed by TJ Gnanavel of ‘Jai Bhim’ fame.
The film will have music by Anirudh Ravichandar and produced by Lyca’s Subaskaran. After 2.0 (2018) and Darbar (2020), this is the third time that Rajinikanth is doing a film under Lyca banner.
We are feeling honoured to announce our next association with “Superstar” @rajinikanth 🌟 for #Thalaivar170 🤗
Directed by critically acclaimed @tjgnan 🎬 Music by the sensational “Rockstar” @anirudhofficial 🎸
🤝 @gkmtamilkumaran
🪙 @LycaProductions #Subaskaran#தலைவர்170 🤗 pic.twitter.com/DYg3aSeAi5— Lyca Productions (@LycaProductions) March 2, 2023
However, Rajnikanth associating with ‘Jai Bhim’ director TJ Gnanavel has raised eyebrows. The makers of the Jai Bhim movie found themselves facing heat after they were caught red-handed peddling false propaganda trying to create rift between different communities. The Saidapet Court had even directed the Chennai Police to file a case against actor Suriya, his wife Jyothika and Jai Bhim’s director TJ Gnanavel for showing Vanniyars in poor light.
In the movie which revolves around the custodial death of a tribal man, the sub-inspector who is responsible for the death of members from the Irular community is shown as a person belonging to the Vanniyar community with their sacred motif ‘Agni’ being situated in the frame.
While the makers of the film chose to retain the name former Justice K. Chandru for Suriya’s character, they had deliberately distorted facts showing the inspector as a Hindu Vanniyar when in fact the sub-inspector was a Dalit Christian.
After this deliberate twisting of facts came to light, members belonging to the Vanniyar community lashed out at Suriya and the makers of the movie for the unwarranted provocation.
In another scene, Suriya can be seen subtly spreading canards about Brahmins. The character Chandru implies that Brahmins are nefarious and not to be trusted.
In another scene, Prakash Raj who plays the role of a police officer slaps a north-Indian (who has been stereotyped as a ‘Marwari’ Saet) for speaking in Hindi and asks him to speak in Tamil.
Many on social media not just pointed out this problematic scene for instigating violence against Hindi speakers but also lashed out at the makers for being hypocrites as the was released in Hindi too in order attract Hindi audience.
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