Chennai: Merku Thodarchi Malai director Lenin Bharathi has caused an earthquake of sorts advocating that the police should break the limbs of the Kollywood heroes brandishing aruvals as macho symbols in their films and also the directors who made such films, much like they have been punishing the students and others indulging in rowdyism in Chennai.
Arguing that films have huge influence on the masses, particularly the youth, Lenin said it had been a familiar sight seeing in the media the visuals of persons, caught by police while indulging in rowdyism, being brought to the courts or before the media with their hands in cast and bandages.
The latest instance was the case of the two students caught using aruvals to attack ‘rival’ gang students on the Poonamalee Road recently in the battle for ‘route thala’ — the leadership of particular bus routes. Both the students were later found with their fractured hands in bandages and slings and police said they broke their hands - actually the right hand that held the aruval - when they slipped in the bathroom.
Just as these people are punished for using aruvals and such other deadly weapons during their acts of rowdyism, the movie heroes and the concerned directors too must be treated firmly by the authorities if they have such violent scenes in their films, the well-known director said, causing mini uproar in the cinema industry.
Lenin said most of the people arrested for their aruval rowdyism would have got their ‘inspiration’ from similar scenes enacted by the heroes brandishing aruvals on the screen as symbols of their macho characters. And so why not break the limbs of these heroes and their directors too, asked Lenin at a function in the city a couple of days back.
Ace director Bharatiraja came out in support of Lenin. “What he said is absolutely correct”, he told reporters.
The latest episode of the students’ aruval rowdyism proved that films do inspire people, particularly the youth and bad film have bad influence, said the ace director.
Interestingly, he had made his son Manoj as hero in the film Taj Mahal (1999), which was directed by him, to romanticise the use of aruval as the macho symbol and the means to get justice and an entire song, ‘Thirupachi aruvala..’, was shot on him calling upon the people to pick up the aruval and join him in the fight. It’s good that the father is a reformed and responsible filmmaker now.
