Kingdom Not Meant To Hurt Tamil Sentiments, Say Makers As Protests Erupt In Tamil Nadu

Chennai: Pointing out that they respected the sentiments of the Tamil people, the makers of director Gowtam Tinnanuri’s explosive action entertainer, ‘Kingdom’, featuring actor Vijay Deverakonda in the lead, on Wednesday expressed regret if the sentiments of the people were in some way hurt by their film.

However, the makers also underlined the fact that the film was a completely fictional one and assured Tamil audiences that the film contained no scenes that would hurt their sentiments.

Sithara Entertainments, the production house that has produced the movie, issued a statement on Wednesday in which it said, “We hereby confirm that we respect the sentiments of the Tamil people, and we promise that, there are no such scenes which are involved in the movie that resembling (sic)to hurt the sentiments of the local state people.”

The production house also went on to say that the story of the film was completely fictional and an imaginary one and that this had been “mentioned in the disclaimer portion of the movie.”

The production house however went on to say, “In such case, if the sentiments of the people are hurt, we regret for the incident. We kindly request you to support the movie. (sic)”

The production house’s clarification comes in the wake of protests breaking out in Tamil Nadu. The film, which was released worldwide on July 31, has sparked controversy for allegedly portraying Sri Lankan Tamils in a negative light.

Tamil nationalist groups, particularly the Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), have accused the film-makers of hurting Tamil sentiments.

NTK cadres have alleged that ‘Kingdom’ depicts Sri Lankan Tamils as villains.The party claims the portrayal is not only insensitive but also aimed at maligning the identity and history of the Tamil people.

Written and directed by Gowtam Tinnanuri, Kingdom has music by Anirudh Ravichander and editing by Navin Nooli. It has been produced by Naga Vamsi S and Sai Soujanya under Sithara Entertainments and Fortune 4 Cinemas Banners respectively. The film is being presented by Srikara Studios. Well known costume designer Neeraja Kona is in-charge of the costumes for this film, which has songs choreographed by Vijay Binni.

Three stunt choreographers — Yannick Ben, Chethan D’Souza, Real Satis — have worked on the film, which is full of action sequences.

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)