In a recent television interview with Times Now, actor R Madhavan expressed his opinions on the recent controversy surrounding Rajinikanth soon after he had backed out of his trip to Sri Lanka. Calling it unfair, Madhavan stated that the incident puts Rajinikanth in a vulnerable position since he has a movie coming up.
“We must understand that we are very vulnerable as actors. It is unfair that social issues get linked to us before the release of a film. You must understand that when you see a film, you see our face on it, you see Rajini sir’s face on it but 500 families are feeding off of what the outcome of the film is going to be,” he said.
Actor R. Madhavan backs Rajinikanth and slams politicians for politicising the issue #RajiniCharityRow pic.twitter.com/IpRGQzw0fL
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) March 27, 2017
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Rajinikanth, who was scheduled to visit Sri Lanka to present 150 houses to Sri Lankan Tamils displaced during the Sri Lankan Civil War, had to cancel the visit following protests from pro-Tamil groups. The homes have been built by Gnanam Foundation, an off-shoot of Lyca Productions.
With politicians like Thol Thirumavalavan, Vaiko and Vel Murugan urging him not to go citing political reasons, the actor backed out of the two-day long event organised by Gnanam Foundation, scheduled to take place in Jaffna, Sri Lanka on April 9.
Read: Rajinikanth Cancels Trip To Sri Lanka; Says He’s Not A Politician
Clearing the air about his political affiliations and requesting people to not politcise this, Rajinikanth sent out a letter to the media: “I’m not a politician, I’m an artiste. And like what Thol Thirumavalavan had said, I’m here to make people happy.”
Incidentally, Madhavan had acted in a Tamil movie called Kannathil Muthamittal that was based on the Sri Lankan Tamils. The film, directed by Mani Ratnam, was judged as a good depiction of the issue. Speaking to Deccan Chronicle on this, Madhavan said:
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“On a humanitarian level, you sympathise with everybody, who are victims of war and violence [sic]. There’s nothing wrong or right. In a war, everybody loses. The smart way is to move on and make sure that it never happens. I respected the fact that Rajini sir wanted to go there. He was quoted as saying that he may go to Sri Lanka in the future and not to politicise it. It is just a man wanting to salute the brave Tamil people. It was very nice of him to say that and I totally agree with him. I had the opportunity to shoot in Sri Lanka for my Tamil film, Vazhthukkal, along with Seeman. I saw the love and affection of the people there — and it was a breath of fresh air to see a Tamil film being shot there.”
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Meanwhile, following his speech at Harvard University for the Indian Conclave last month, Madhavan also spoke about the education system in our country. “The education system in the country, it should completely be revamped. The curriculum is neither designed for the future, nor for the present. Although, the most educated people, who are heading the world’s biggest firms are Indians – more so from south India – a change should be brought. It was an honour for me to speak at Harvard at the Indian Conclave. I was in my element and totally enjoyed it.”
Watch his speech here: