Actor Jayam Ravi has said that the scene about Rajinikanth’s delayed political entry in the trailer of his upcoming film Comali will be deleted, and that it was not intended to insult Rajinikanth, who had himself watched the trailer and congratulated them for it.
In a statement yesterday, Jayam Ravi said he has always made an effort to stay away from controversies and remain friends with everyone in the industry. “My stance and ideologies have only been exhibited in movies through the fictional characters I have played and have never crossed those limits.”
The actor added that he too was awaiting Rajinikanth’s political entry. “Being a hardcore Superstar Rajini sir fan, I have been as eager and anxious as any other follower to see him embark on his political journey. We all grew up watching his movies, his action and style had become an inherent part of our nature and there is no way that we would show such disrespect to him in any way or his fans. What has made him more lovable than before is that he saw the trailer of Comali and appreciated our team for the creative appeal and congratulated us for coming up with a unique idea. However, to see that such an ideation, without any deliberate intent, has been receiving resentments and some negative feedbacks from a section of his fans, we have decided to delete the portion in the movie.”
— Jayam Ravi (@actor_jayamravi) August 5, 2019
Director Pradeep Ranganathan and producer Ishari Ganesh released video saying they also got a call from actor Kamal Haasan who said that the dig was in bad taste, and they have decided to make changes to the scene.
#Comali Producer @isharikganesh & Director @pradeeponelife clarify about the Controversial scene involving #SuperStarRajinikanth's political entry!???
▶️https://t.co/ghXoQPo0cs#ComaliFromAug15 ??@actor_jayamravi @MsKajalAggarwal @SamyukthaHegde @hiphoptamizha
— Sreedhar Pillai (@sri50) August 5, 2019
The trailer released on Saturday and garnered over a million views in a day, but it faced outrage from Rajinikanth fans who trended #BoycottComali on Twitter.
In the trailer, Jayam Ravi’s character is seen waking up from a coma after 16 years. When he asks for the year, Yogi Babu, who plays his friend, turns on the TV to show Rajinikanth making the announcement of his political entry. But, Jayam Ravi’s character refuses to believe this is from the present. He says, “Who are you fooling? This is 1996!”
Rajinikanth had hinted about getting into politics in 1996, and made the announcement in 2017. He is yet to form his party.
Comali, also starring Kajal Aggarwal, Samyuktha Hegde and KS Ravi Kumar and others, releases on August 15.
