Tamil comedian and actor Santhanam has made waves with his comments against Suriya’s film ‘Jai Bhim’. Remarking on the representation of caste in the film, he argued that one should not demean people in order to draw attention to societal concerns. Addressing a press conference for his film Sabhaapathy, the actor had said: ‘That is an utterly pointless thing to do. The young should provide positive signals to society’.
While Santhanam’s remarks elicited varied reactions, the actor has recently courted controversy with his films. One of the posters for his recent film ‘Sabhaapathy’ garnered criticism for showing the lead actor urinating on a wall as another character sits with a bottle of booze. The wall is plastered with a slogan, ‘Protest for clean water, gather warriors’.
A regional political group, Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam, slammed the billboard, accusing its creators of demeaning people demanding clean water. ‘In the name of humour, they are insulting the protestors who fight for water. We strongly condemn making films with inhumane scenes in the name of comedy. This scene should be removed from the movie immediately’, said Ramakrishnan, the General Secretary of TPDK.
Sabhaapathy was also chastised for allegedly plagiarising the film’s primary poster from the Hollywood blockbuster ‘Role Models.’
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Not just Sabhaapathy, but Santhanam’s prior film ‘Dikkiloona’ was panned for having misogynistic language. Santhanam’s character in the film shames a woman for wearing a short dress, telling her that she should be living in a way that is acceptable to society. As if that weren’t enough, Santhanam makes fun of disabled people in Dikkiloona, referring to one of them as a ‘side stand’.
Several years ago, the transgender community protested against Shankar’s I, stating that Santhanam in the film denigrated a transgender character.
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