Chennai: Director Cheran appears to have stepped on a landmine. His recent remarks that he felt ‘disgusted’ having campaigning for the rights of Eelam Tamils as only they were behind the illegal uploading of new movies and causing huge losses to movie producers, have unleashed a barrage of angry retorts from the influential Diaspora.
The ‘Autograph’ star now appears bruised by severe bashing on the Eelam digital media slamming him for branding the entire Sri Lankan Tamils as thieves of Tamil cinema.
Speaking at a recent audio release function, Cheran had wailed that the Tamil cine industry had been badly hit by video piracy and the illegal uploading of new movies. There were some 18000 shops selling pirated videos in Tamil Nadu and the police did nothing about that. Besides, even brand new films got uploaded illegally on the Net.
“They say Eelam Tamils are behind this. Our entire film industry had fought for the Eelam Tamils, but now I feel disgusted (aruveruppa-irukku) why we did it for them…”he had said.
The statement drew angry reactions from all over the Eelam Diaspora, questioning if Cheran had any evidence to prove that the video piracy and illegal uploading of films were being done only by the Sri Lankan Tamils.
“Cheran will soon face the consequences from the Eelam Tamils as well as the Tamils of Tamil Nadu”, warned a long Tamil post on a popular Diaspora site. Several others have said tougher things, and pointed out that the Eelam Tamils formed the bulk of financiers of not just the Kollywood distribution networks abroad but also spent hugely on conducting the star shows and other cultural festivals to help the industry in Chennai.
“What have these Kollywood protests for us achieved? Did they manage to save at least one Tamil from being massacred in Eelam? How dare he call us all thieves?” said another Tamil post.
However, an unfazed Cheran insisted that his anguish at Kollywood suffering huge losses due to video piracy and illegal online spread of new films “will be surely understood in proper spirit by all the good Eelam Tamils of integrity”.
Also, it would be wrong to assume he had painted the entire Eelam Tamil community as culprits, he insisted.
“Not a single critic has pointed a finger at them when I had expressed my anguish that the pirated DVDs are coming from abroad and new films are being uploaded illegally”, Cheran said in a statement late Friday evening.
He said when he approached his global Tamil friends—“they too were Eelam Tamils”—to partner his C2H initiative (cinema-to- home), “only those who had prevented them and threatened them are now thieves selling illegally”.
