Controversy over content – F’day Spl. Article by Naveen

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The first look poster and teaser of ‘Irandam Kuthu’ attracted a lot of criticism recently over their explicit content. Interestingly, this is not the first time for Tamil film industry to witness such protests.

This week, as part of its Friday special article series, Mykollywood.com tracks some of the movies that created controversies in the past over the way they dealt sex and relationships.

THULLUVADHO ILAMAI

‘Thulluvadho Ilamai’ is a 2002 coming of age drama film written and directed by Kasthuri Raja. It is co-written by Selvaraghavan and the film marks the acting debut of Dhanush, who plays the lead role. The film also features other newcomers Abhinay, Sherin, Ramesh, Shilpa and Gangeshwari in major roles, and features prominent film personalities Vijayakumar, Ramesh Khanna, Pyramid Natarajan, playing supporting roles.

The film depicts the story of six high-school classmates, three boys and three girls, coming from different strata of society, who have each their own problems in their respective families and escape from their homes, deciding to live together on their own with the help of an older friend of theirs.

After taking a small opening, the film began to get teen audiences to cinema halls for its adolescent themes. It subsequently went on to become a sleeper hit.

BOYS

‘Boys’ is a 2003 coming-of-age musical film directed by S Shankar. It stars newcomers Genelia, Siddharth, Bharath, Manikandan, S Thaman, Nakul in the lead roles. The score and soundtrack are composed by A R Rahman. The story revolves around the six youngsters, who experience the downfalls of teenage life.

The film opened to mixed reviews. One of the critics cited that the film “gets enmeshed in an intricate array of sub-plots. And somewhere along the way, the story begins to meander”, adding that “college students, especially guys, might watch Boys more than once for the titillating scenes, the non-veg jokes, and, most importantly, the skimpy, transparent clothing sported by the heroine.”

Shankar later pointed out that “only youngsters” came to watch as he failed to appeal to “other age groups” as well.

NEW

Though S J Surya’s first film ‘Vaali’ itself had controversial content, things reached a high in ‘New’. The 2004 film’s adult theme generated controversy, and post-release, women activists in the state of Tamil Nadu demanded a ban on a film after release, which they say contained obscene sex scenes.

Surya responded by claiming that the sex scenes are there because the story line requires them and described his film as “fiction laced with sex and comedy”.

In August 2005, the Madras High Court revoked the Censor certificate for the film and directed the Chennai Commissioner of Police to investigate two criminal complaints registered against Surya, ruling that the film did not provide a “clean and healthy entertainment” and that it would be failing in its duty if it did not revoke the censor certificate of the film, claiming it originally attained an “A” certificate “under questionable circumstances”.

Surya was then arrested by city police for allegedly throwing a mobile phone at a woman Censor board official in a fit of anger during the post-production of the film.

SINDHU SAMAVELI

Director Samy, who made controversial subjects like ‘Uyir’ and ‘Mirugam’, is the brain behind ‘Sindhu Samaveli’ too. ‘Sindhu Samaveli’ is a 2010 erotic thriller film that featured debutants Harish Kalyan, Anaka (Amala Paul), and Ghajini in the lead roles.

The film is about a widower and his daughter-in-law having an affair while his son is away for a few days. Upon release, the film met with contrasting reviews, whilst some critics refused to give the movie a rating, declaring their disgust at the film’s plot.

IRUTTU ARAIYIL MURATTU KUTHTHU

‘Iruttu Araiyil Murattu Kuthu’ is a 2018 adult comedy horror film, written and directed by Santhosh P Jayakumar and produced by K E Gnanavel Raja.

The film stars Gautham Karthik and VJ Sha Ra, with Yashika Aannand, Chandrika Ravi, and Vaibhavi Shandilya are in the female leads. The music was composed by Balamurali Balu with cinematography by Ballu and editing by Prasanna GK. The film was remade in Telugu as ‘Chikati Gadilo Chithakotudu’ by Jayakumar himself and was theatrically released in India on April 21, 2019.

90 ML

Directed by Anita Udeep, ’90 ML’ surrounded the lives of women, who drank alcohol and smoked cigarettes. The adult film had Oviya as the lead actor, while STR played a cameo.

A few sections protested against the film alleging that it showed women involving in ‘anti-cultural activities’ like drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes.

By Naveen

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