Inam, the Srilankan civil war based movie by director Santosh Sivan will be pulled out of all theaters in Tamilnadu starting today, its distributor N. Lingusamy announced in a written statement. Responding to the controversy over the film, Lingusamy, who distributed the film under his Thirrupathi Brothers banner said, “In the interest of not creating any confusion at the time of elections, I withdraw the film—Inam. This movie will be withdrawn from all screens with effect from March 31, 2014. I make this decision despite financial losses.”
The controversy has been brewing for a few days, with MDMK chief V. Gopalsamy becoming the latest to criticise Santosh Sivan for portraying the LTTE in poor light. “Hurting someone’s pride and reputation in the name of cinematic arts is a despicable act,” Mr. Gopalsamy added.
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While Lingusamy did not respond to Vaiko’s statement directly, he said the issue was being politicised. “In my personal life and my film career so far, I have always behaved with deep affection for the Tamil land and its people, and will continue to be this way,” he said. Expressing anguish over the bitterness caused by the movie, he said his decision to distribute Inam was driven by his desire to be involved with good cinema.
While the director and cinematographer of the film, Santosh Sivan remained unavailable for comment, sources close to him said that the Hindi version would not be pulled from theatres outside Tamil Nadu.