Kollywood gears up for protest tomorrow
Film actors, technicians to hold demo, urge shutting down of Sri Lankan embassy in Chennai
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2014-08-03 05:56 GMT
Chennai: The Tamil film industry will stage a protest on August 4 in the city, demanding that the Sri Lankan Embassy be shut down. Tamil Nadu Film Directors’ Association president Vikraman said on Saturday that their demonstration was to condemn the derogatory article about Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on the Sri Lankan defence ministry website.
Film actors, directors, cinematographers, technicians, producers and theatre owners among others will participate in the demonstration.
The article on the Chief Minister, accompanied by a graphic image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, led to a political furore and protests by various political parties. Jayalalithaa, in a letter to Narendra Modi, said that the visual, on the homepage of the official website was highly objectionable as it depicted them in a trivialised, derogatory and disrespectful manner.
Following an outcry, the article was removed from the Sri Lankan government’s defence website on Friday. Political parties slammed the Sri Lankan government and demanded an apology.
Meanwhile, actor Vijayakanth has joined the long list of politicians in the state to express anger against the Sri Lankan government for the offensive posting featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on its defence ministry website.
His statement issued on Saturday was obviously more to stay politically correct by joining the anti-Colombo list than to genuinely feel sorry for Jayalalithaa. The two had contested the last state polls (May 2011), as allies but are now sworn enemies.
Captain’s statement comes at a time when all political parties, including the opposition DMK and Congress, had already issued statements condemning the Lankan site. The DMDK supremo’s timing of the statement has raised several eyebrows as to why he took such a long time to react.
“The Sri Lankan government has already removed the post from its website and has tendered unqualified apology to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa yesterday itself. Vijayakanth is reacting only this afternoon after reading today’s media reports,” said DMDK MLA S. Michael Rayappan.