A city-based researcher,V Iswarya, has given a call to boycott the movie Remo through a petition on Change.org. Iswarya gained prominence earlier this year when she launched a petition to ‘call out stalking’ in Tamil films. The initiative was lauded by many and is continuing to garner support. At the time of publishing, the petition had gained 2,230 supporters.
Now, Iswarya has updated her petition and has asked her supporters to boycott Remo. The film, with Sivakarthikeyan and Keerthy Suresh, releases tomorrow. In it, Sivakarthikeyan woos Keerthy who plays a doctor by impersonating a nurse.
The update to the petition seems to have been provoked by Sivakarthikeyan’s recent interview to The News Minute. In it, the actor was questioned about his films being criticised for glorifying stalking.
His response was:
“In all my films, I pursue the girl that I like, fall for her and ultimately marry her unfailingly. There is nothing wrong with that and I am not putting forth any wrong messages or ideas. This is also a kind of love and he is relentless in his approach towards a single girl just to make her reciprocate his love. He doesn’t have any other intentions and doesn’t move on, come what may, as his love is pure. Of course, negatives can be found in every film and it’s all about perspective.”
In Iswarya’s petition, she says:
We have a long weekend coming up with a cluster of movies releasing, including the heavily-promoted “Remo,” starring Sivakarthikeyan. The movie’s cast and crew have been flooding the press with interviews dwelling mainly on how much expense and effort have gone into making the hero appear realistic onscreen as a woman, yet the makers seem to have given very little thought to how they romanticise and normalise stalking (and deception) of women.
A recent interview with The News Minute shows that actor Sivakarthikeyan doesn’t understand what stalking is or how it adversely affects the life of women who are stalked. Film after film, he has played the ‘hero’ continuously pursuing and harassing the object of his ‘love’ and yet he seems pretty sure that he is “not putting forth any wrong messages or ideas.” He claims validity for stalking as a longstanding trope in Tamil films and at the same time, evades the question, saying that he doesn’t consider what he does onscreen as ‘stalking’!
His logic is that stalking is OK because despite pursuing a woman everywhere, he would “ultimately marry her unfailingly.” We only need to recall that the killers of Francina (Tuticorin), Dhanya (Coimbatore) and Karuna (Delhi) also demanded exactly the same from the women they stalked! His idea that his characters represent “pure” love without “any other intentions” and his failure to understand the notion of a woman’s consent is extremely troubling. Exactly what gives these men the authority to make decisions for another woman on her life choices? It is high time both Tamil filmmakers and audience learnt that stalking is a serious criminal offence under IPC sec. 354D. Period.
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Please let actor Sivakarthikeyan know that he cannot get away with this dangerous trend in every film, especially when he clearly admits in the same interview that he is extremely popular with children. We cannot let his greed for profit poison the minds of our younger generation. (Please note: The film carries a ‘U’ certificate.)
Tell him in no uncertain terms that we will #BoycottRemo for promoting stalking as acceptable and fun. We have just one more day to act and convey our protest. We do not believe in bans and extrajudicial censorship, but we can take a stand by refusing to pay and watch movies that encourage the toxic culture of stalking.
Let the filmmakers know why we are keeping away from Remo.”
