Children of late Tamil writer Jayakanthan appealed to actor Kamal Haasan and the makers of the upcoming Tamil film, Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal, to change its title.
Produced by Ajmal Khan and Reyaa, the film is written and directed by Vishal Venkat. It features actors Ashok Selvan, Manikandan, Nasser, Rithvika, KS Ravikumar, and Banupriya, among several others.
In 1770, Jayakanthan had published the novel Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal, which won him the Sahitya Akademi Award. In 1977, a film adaptation of the novel with the same title bagged the National Film Award.
While the upcoming film bears the title, it appears to have no relation to the story of Jayakanthan’s novel.
In an open letter to actor Kamal, who recently launched the film’s trailer, the writer’s children, J Kadhambari, J Jayasimhan and J Deepalakshmi, stated that the phrase Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal is synonymous with Jayakanthan. “We think it is the responsibility and duty of the Tamil literary world to preserve its uniqueness. We hope those who truly respect and love Jayakanthan and his writings will never reuse the title Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal for another story or film,” the letter read.
The writer’s children also said that Jayakanthan was generous and did not pay much heed to others using his stories or characters in their films without his consent. “However, even if he was okay with it, is it morally right to do so?” they questioned.
They further noted that though Kamal used the title Unnaipol Oruvan for his 2009 Tamil film with the consent of the author, this almost erased the digital footprint of the original film written, directed and co-produced by Jayakanthan in 1965.
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In a subsequent Facebook post, the writer’s children also urged the film’s director Vishal Venkat and his team to drop the current title and choose a different one. “As Kamal was a good friend of our father and he was seen justifying the title in your film’s audio release, we chose to appeal to him and meant no disrespect to your team. Kindly consider our request and rename your movie,” they added.
Jayakanthan, who was also a journalist, orator, filmmaker, critic and activist, has written many novels and short stories. He also directed films based on his novels and was a recipient of the Padma Bhushan in 2009 and the Jnanpith Award in 2002.