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Dulquer Salmaan apologizes and renders clarity over dialogue in Varane Avashyamund
Varane Avashyamund producer and actor Dulquer Salmaan and director Anoop Sathyan issue clarification over controversial dialogue.
Dulquer Salmaan’s latest Malayalam film Varane Avashyamund, which had its digital release on Netflix, has landed in yet another controversy. This time some viewers took offence to a dialogue in the film and it forced its lead actor and director to apologize and clarify.
One scene in the film has upset a section of Tamil viewers who have misinterpreted it as an attack on late LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.
In the scene, actor Suresh Gopi calls his dog Prabhakara, and many Tamil viewers feel it’s an indirect attack on Prabhakaran. Calling it a deliberate slander, many Twitter users pointed this out and demanded an apology from Dulquer and director Anoop Sathyan.
Dulquer, who is also the producer of the film, took to Twitter and wrote: “A lot of people have brought to my notice that the Prabhakaran joke in Varane Avashyamund is insulting to the Tamizh people. It was not intentional. The joke is a reference to an older Malayalam film Pattana Pravesham and is a common Meme in Kerala.”
He further added that Prabhakara was a very “common name in Kerala as well so it wasn’t directed at any person living or dead as our disclaimer mentions in the beginning of the film.”
“Most people reacting are doing so without watching the film and are trying to spread hate. Hating on me and my director Anoop we can accept. Kindly keep it to us and not our fathers or senior actors from the film. I apologise to all of the good and kind Tamizh people who felt offended. I have never intended to offend anyone through my films or my words. It’s genuinely a misunderstanding,” he added.
Reacting to the abuses hurled at the team, director Anoop Sathyan said in a statement: “I was noticing the abusive posts/tags towards us about this particular funny sequence from our film Varane Avashyamund with the name ‘Prabhakaran’ in it. At first, I thought it’s better to ignore the negativity. Then, it got infectious and I believe I should officially make it clear as the writer-director of the film. The sequence is a direct reference from the Malayalam film Pattana Pravesham’. A hilarious scene, which is a common Meme/Sticker/Troll because of its genuine humour. It got NO reference to the LTTE leader Prabhakaran.”
It’s worth mentioning that the film landed in another controversy recently. A few days ago, a woman journalist accused the makers of fat-shaming her by using her photographs without her consent.
The film, which was a box-office hit, also stars Shobana and Kalyani Priyadarshan in key roles.
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