Tamil Features

“UTV” Dhananjayan Tries To Tamp Down Criticism Of Yatchan

By Janani K

Should there be a limit on creative expression? Most creative artists, especially film professionals, would answer that with a resounding ‘No’. But do critics have the same freedom of expression?  G Dhananjayan, head of UTV South would probably disagree.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

When Prashanth, a movie critic on social media declared his intent to negatively review Yatchan, produced by UTV,  Dhananjayan decided to intervene by sending the reviewer a private Twitter Direct Message asking him not to “kill a film with too much criticism.”  Which begs the question, can a good film really be killed by criticism? (Answer: No).

Though Dhananjayan declared himself open to constructive criticism, his personal message set off a mini war of words. Prashanth called the film,

and posted a screenshot of the DM’s saying he would continue to run the movie down, and was ready to face the consequences. Both Dhananjayan and Prashanth carried their drawing room dispute to Twitter, but Dhananjayan’s words weren’t much to Prashanth’s liking.

Prashanth even asked the producer to make a quality film like Thani Oruvan and then tell online reviewers what they should write. In response, Dhananjayan wrote,

In response, Prashanth had this to say:

Finally, Dhananjayan gave up after deciding that the conversation wasn’t going anywhere:

Now, we liked Yatchan for its comic timing, solid and restrained acting performances, and good screenplay. But that’s not the point. The point is that just as artists should have full creative expression, critics and audiences should also have full critical freedom. Even when the critics are rabble rousers and trolls.

Earlier this year, Suhasini Maniratnam was widely criticised for saying only “qualified reviewers” should be allowed to review her husband’s OK Kanmani.  And lest we forget, Dhananjayan himself was part of a similar dispute in 2013, when popular RJ Balaji criticised Settai (a film produced by UTV ) on his evening talk show ‘Take It Easy.’ The dispute resulted in Balaji cancelling the segment. However, the duo have clearly reconciled with each other, and RJ Balaji delivered a crackling comic performance in, ironically enough, Yatchan. Balaji has perhaps found the best kind of response to criticism: humour.

Dhananjayan might want to take a leaf out of director CS Amudhan’s book, who had once tweeted, ‘I defend my right to be ridiculed by @RJ_Balaji.’

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Janani K is a Alum at Silverscreen India, and can be reached by email at jananik@silverscreen.in