Controversial scene, profane dialogues removed from 'Vada Chennai'
A possibly objectionable love making scene on a boat in midsea featuring actress Andrea and actor and filmmaker Ameer from Dhanush starrer Vada Chennai was removed by director Vetri Maaran. He did so after the fisher folk community had said that it would hurt their sentiments as they consider boats and catamarans sacred.
The film got rave reviews for its making style as well as the performances of all actors, small and big. Despite the rawness inbuilt in the script and the realistic violent approach given by Vetri Maaran, the movie was appreciated by the audiences. However, akin to many films in the recent past, Vada Chennai had its share of brickbats and was dragged into controversy too.
Ameer who plays Rajan, a gangster and a do-gooder for his people, marries Andrea from the same locality and their first night was picturised with them on a boat in the middle of the ocean. This, however, did not go down well with the fishing community. The scene was deleted and replaced with two others involving Ameer and Andrea. Since the uncut version of Vada Chennai had footage running to 5.5 hours, it wouldn’t have been a tough task to swap scenes. “We have settled the issue amicably,” Vetri says.
The director had also apologised when the issue was brought up saying it was never his intention to cause offence to any community. The makers also state that some of the cuss words mouthed by the female character Padma played by Aishwarya Rajesh were removed as North Chennai people felt they have been portrayed in bad light through such crude language.
Dhanush and Vetri Maaran came together for the third time after Polladhavan and Aadukalam with the gangster saga, Vada Chennai. And both won national award for Aadukalam as Best Actor and Best Director respectively. Vada Chennai bankrolled by Dhanush in his home banner Wunderbar Films, also features Aishwarya Rajesh, director Ameer, Andrea, Samuthirakani, Daniel Balaji, Kishore and many others. Vetri Maaran’s previous movie Visaaranai was India’s official entry for Oscars and was produced by Dhanush.
