The makers of Jai Bhim, the recently-released Suriya starrer, have digitally altered a scene featuring a calendar carrying a symbol that denotes a particular caste and replaced it with the image of a Hindu god, in order to avoid communal dispute.
Suriya’s 39th film, Jai Bhim is written and directed by TJ Gnanavel. The actor, who also produced the film under his 2D Entertainment banner, plays a lawyer who fights for justice for the people from the Irular tribal community. The film, which deals with topics such as caste inequality and police brutality, is inspired by real events that took place at the Madras High Court. The real-life case was fought by Justice Chandru in the 90s.
While the film received a largely positive reception, a scene featuring the antagonist, which shows a calendar carrying a symbol (a fire urn) that is said to denote a particular caste, drew flak from a section of the audience. While some took to social media and questioned if the symbol was necessary, others termed it a “deliberate mistake” and an “indirect attack” on the Vanniyar caste.
It is to be noted that Anbumani Ramadoss, leader of the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), a political party that represents the Vanniyar caste, has a tattoo of the symbol in question on his arm. According to The New Indian Express, members of the caste believe that the community was born out of fire and thus, the fire urn became their symbol.
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Soon after the symbol appearing in the scene became a subject of controversy, the makers of Jai Bhim digitally altered it to an image of the Hindu Goddess Lakshmi.
This is not the first time Jai Bhim has caused a stir on social media. Previously, the film faced flak for showing “hate” for the Hindi language in a scene featuring actor Prakash Raj, whose character slaps another for speaking in Hindi. Subsequently, Prakash Raj, in an interview with News9, responded to the controversy and said that people only saw the slap but not the agony of the tribal people, which “exposes their agenda.”
Jai Bhim released on November 2 and is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.