After Jailer’s success (produced by DMK family-owned Sun Pictures), Rajinikanth will again be seen on the big screen with Vettaiyan. Directed by Dravidianist director TJ Gnanavel, this cop action drama seems to have generated significant excitement among diehard fans. The filmmakers have already released two songs from Vettaiyan, and the trailer is scheduled for release on 2 October 2024. It has received a U/A certification from the censor board, with a final runtime of 2 hours, 43 minutes, and 25 seconds.
The censor board certificate, which details three modifications to the dialogues—either through word changes or muting—has gone viral on social media, although the duration of the dialogues will remain unchanged.
What Are The Changes?
The viral censor certificate states three changes. These are as follows:
- Modified the dialogue “Yella mannaraatchi……to…. mudhan mudhala sollutchu” in TC
- Mute the words “Ondriya” (21:48,46:25,02:40:28), “Bastard” (01:00:37), “Yezhaigalai Cooliethozhilaali” (02:39:21, 02:39:57)-(Either Muted or Replaced)
- Muted the words “Muslim, Sartharji” in TC 89:13 and modified the words “Neet, Doctor” in TC 145:59.
Once again, the director is seen peddling a certain agenda especially if you notice the third point in the certificate.
From the looks of it, Vettaiyan will peddle DMK’s propaganda against the NEET exam, apart from references to “Ondriya,” a term that was coined and used by the DMK to denote the central government. This term carries undertones suggesting that India is a union of states rather than a single, cohesive nation.
Who Is TJ Gnanavel?
TJ Gnanavel is the director of the casteist film, Jai Bhim. In 2023, 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.
Name of the Movie – In Hindi
Movie Dubbed into – Hindi
Producer/Lead Actor – Married a Hindi Speaking Woman
Producer/Lead Actor’s Children – Taught Hindi to Speak/Read/WriteBut hey.. let me abuse Hindi & Hindi speakers in my movie to get a few claps.
Not Illegal but Immoral. https://t.co/XdVU5WNsWx
— Dr.SG Suryah (@SuryahSG) November 2, 2021
This is not the first time that Rajinikanth has been a catalyst to peddle the Dravidianist propaganda.
Not too long ago, Rajinikanth starred in ‘Kaala’, a 2018 film directed by rabid anti-Hindu filmmaker Pa. Ranjith. Rajinikanth is the black shirt-clad messiah of a chawl fighting the saffron shawl and tilak sporting evil men. There were scenes where Hindu festivals were demonized, with Lord Vinayaka and Lord Ram shown in negative light. Every villain in the film, including the main antagonist Hari (another name for Lord Vishnu), is a practicing Hindu, sporting religious symbols of saffron/Hinduism. Hari frequently talks about Krishna and Rama while justifying his evil deeds and Kaala threatens him, “If stealing my land is your God’s Dharma, then I won’t spare your God either.” It even referenced prominent BJP leader H Raja to reinforce negative stereotypes about the Narendra Modi Government.
He collaborated with Sun Pictures for Petta, directed by Karthik Subbaraj, a known LTTE sympathizer and naxals like ‘Thirumurugan’ Gandhi. Petta, too, took potshots at Hindutva, showing anyone with a tilak on a forehead as a religious bigot. On the other hand, Rajini helped Anwar get married to Anu.
In his last release Lal Salaam, Rajinikanth plays Moideen Bhai, the good Muslim, while another villain (Adithya Menon) is portrayed with a nice red tilak. A dialogue uttered by Moideen Bhai, looking to the side where saffron-shawl-clad Senthil stands, says, “What have you guys done? You’ve mixed politics with religion! You’ve injected venom in the kids playing!”
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