Porukkis, a new film that traces the lives of Koothu artistes, got its unusual title from Subramanian Swamy’s infamous tweet. At the film’s promotional event, director Manjunath said that his anger at Subramanian Swamy’s comment led him to name his debut film after it.
“Last year, Subramanian Swamy had referred to Tamil people as Porukkis. The comment made me angry and I decided to channel that through my title. Later, Radha Ravi approached told me to change it to Porukkis Alla Naangal. And so we decided to heed to his advice.”
All Porukkis in Tamil Nadu who have been threatening violence on twitter against PTs should write out their addresses for NIA inspection.
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) January 17, 2017
The movie will focus on one of Tamil Nadu’s oldest art-form – koothu and will showcase the lifestyle of people who still practice it. It also tries to figure out solutions for the many issues faced by the Tamil people, including alcoholism and lack of awareness and support for Tamil Nadu farmers, he said. “We have addressed the agrarian crisis in our film. The only way we can change the status quo is by changing ourselves. This is what we have said through the movie, but it’s not preachy.”
“Alcohol is freely available on the market. It is a menace. We want to bring greater awareness to the problem through our efforts,” he added.
Radha Ravi has an important role in the film. He said that the movie is not anti-government and that the intention was not to attack anybody. “Our intention is to let the government know about the various problems plaguing our society,” he said.
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The actor invited Nadigar Sangam chief Nasser for the event. While Nasser accepted the request, he did not turn up. The event was attended by social activist Piyush Manush, Karu Palaniappan among others. Radha Ravi joked that the guest list must have been reason enough for Nasser to avoid coming to it. “Maybe, he saw the guest list and panicked,” Radha Ravi quipped.
Actor-producer Raja of and Lavanika will be seen in the lead roles of the project that has Manjunath as both the cinematographer and the director.