Captain Miller, a film starring Dhanush in the lead role released in theatres on 12 January 2024. Set in the pre-independence era, the film is about a man who joins the British Army having experienced caste atrocities but later quits and fights the British Army to protect his people after witnessing the horrific atrocities committed by them.
The film has received good response from the audience with a few critics glorifying the movie. However, a clip has gone viral on social media in which Dhanush can be seen mouthing dialogues seemingly favourable to the British.
In the clip in question, Easa/Captain Miller (played by Dhanush) tells his brother Sengolan (played by Shiva Rajkumar) “Are you fighting for freedom? Whose freedom? You’re going to save our nation from the British and hand it over to the kings who are ruling us? But they’re not letting the us inside the temples built by our fathers and grandfathers. You are fighting for them.”
Sengolan tells Dhanush “It’s not like before. Everything is changing. It will change here as well.”, a dialogue which seems to be hinting at the social reforms ushered in by thinkers and reformists.
Caveat: Reformers like Vivekananda, Arya Samaj, had ushered in a new era breaking the archaic caste rigidities in Hindu society. In Tamil Nadu, C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji), the Congress Chief Minister of Madras Presidency issued the Temple Entry Authorization and Indemnity Act 1939, under which restrictions were removed on Dalits and Shanars entering Hindu temples. The same year, Madurai A. Vaidyanatha Iyer who was the President of the Tamil Nadu Harijan Seva Sangh and an Indian independence activist, and freedom-fighter spearheaded the temple entry movement in Madras Presidency in 1939 entering the Madurai Meenakshi Temple along with six of Dalit friends including Congress leader P. Kakkan, Muruganandam, Chinniah, Purnalingam and Muthu.
Dhanush then goes on to say “What has changed Sengannen? Tell me. Will they let us inside the sanctum-sanctorum? Tell me Sengannen. Will they let our people enter the sanctum-sanctorum? They treat us like shit. He’s telling me not to wear slippers. If I join the army, the Brits are giving boots to me. He is asking me to stand slouching before him. He’s making me sit as an equal and tells me to eat. He is trampling me. That guy (British) is giving me respect. That respect is my freedom.”
When Sengolan questions why should we let people who came for business to rule, Dhanush goes on to say “Oh.. were we independent before the Brits came? They (kings) were ruling then, now they (Brits) are ruling now. We were slaves to them (kings) then, we’re slaves to the them (British) now. How does it matter for us?”
It is possible only in Tamil Nadu!
Thank you #CaptainMilIer team & Actors #Danush #Shivanna pic.twitter.com/i2gdaNqQiI
— We Dravidians (@WeDravidians) January 13, 2024
This clip has been shared by Dravidianist and DMK propaganda accounts exhilarating and hailing the dialogue saying that’s what EV Ramasamy Naicker (hailed as ‘Periyar’ by his followers) said. They have interspersed the clip with speeches of DMK MP A. Raja justifying EVR’s British-apologist stance.
However, little do the Dravidianists realize that later in the film, Dhanush fights the very same British after he realizes that they’re the biggest threat to his community.
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