Actor Vijay Sethupathi recently said he was disappointed to see matrimonial ads celebrating caste, and that divisions based on caste and religion waa one of the biggest problems today.
He was speaking to the press at an event recently, when he responded to the Madras High Court’s order to lift the ban on Tik Tok after the company agreed to regulate content uploaded on the app. Sethupathi hesitated for a moment before saying, “I don’t know what to say about this. I don’t know if there should even be a ban or not. Each person has their opinion, and I can’t say something that generalises it.”
He further said that there were more pressing problems on media which should draw our attention, such as content promoting caste marriages. “There are things worse that this on TV. There are many ads that are very inappropriate. What are we doing about it? The big problem today is that caste and religion are a major backing for people. Ads have people saying I married someone from this particular caste and so I’m happy. It seems to celebrate caste, and is very disappointing to see this. We are not able to watch these ads with children, and it plays so ordinarily on TV.”
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Sethupathi also responded to questions about the Lok Sabha elections and his possible entry into politics and said, “Different people see politics differently. But I believe it needs a lot of responsibility and I know I’m not good enough for it.” He added that as a dutiful citizen he had cast his vote, and will now go about with his work in films. About celebrities like Ramesh Kanna and Robo Shankar who could not cast their votes he said, “We should appreciate their intention. The same problem would have happened to many common people. Even if they shout, it goes unheard. Why don’t we talk about it?”
Vijay Sethupathi recently made his television debut as the host of a talk show on Sun TV. Titled Namma Ooru Hero, the show is an attempt to introduce real life heroes. The actor recently wrapped up shooting for Sindhubaadh, and has a project with Seenu Ramaswamy under production. Shooting for his film with Vijay Chandar is proceeding simultaneously, and Laabam, co-starring Shruti Haasan was just announced.