The Madras High Court on Thursday quashed a First Information Report (FIR) against Tamil actor Suriya and Director of Jai Bhim movie, T.J. Gnanavel.

The FIR was registered at the Velachery police station, Chennai for allegedly hurting the sentiments of the Vanniyar community by portraying it in a bad light in the movie, ‘Jai Bhim’.

The FIR was lodged on May 17 at the instance of the Advocate of Rudra Vanniyar Sena, K. Santosh. Justice N. Satish Kumar of the Madras High Court allowed a joint petition filed by the actor and director to quash the FIR registered against them.

The petitioners in their plea stated that the movie ‘Jai Bhim’ was based upon a case in which retired Judge of Madras High Court, Justice K. Chandru had conducted while he was a practicing lawyer. It stated that except for his name and that of the Inspector General of Police, Perumalswamy, the names of all other characters were changed.

The actor and director of the movie said that they did not want to use the real names of the characters as most of them had undergone the full prison term and were still alive. The movie was given an ‘A’ certificate by the Censor Board and was released only on the OTT platform, thereby limiting the number of viewers who could watch it.

The movie, according to the petitioners, was well received across the world and was appreciated by all sections of the people without any caste or creed affiliations. The movie also won several acclaims and awards including the Dadasaheb Phalke Film Festival award, the JFW Award, and the Boston International Film Festival Award.

The filmmakers said that the Chairman of the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry P.S. Amalraj also wrote a letter to the director appreciating the movie, ‘Jai Bhim’.

The petitioners said that despite all these accolades and positive responses, the complainant had approached the Metropolitan Magistrate court in Saidapet, Chennai, and obtained an order on May 6 to register an FIR against the filmmakers.

It may be noted that the Rudra Vanniyar Sena and the complainant were aggrieved over the villain being named ‘Gurumurthy’ and a calendar of the Vanniyar Sangam was hanging behind his seat in a scene. This has led to the Vanniyar community coming out against the movie actor Suriya and director, T.S. Gjanavel.

Director Tha Se Gnanavel’s critically-acclaimed Tamil courtroom drama ‘Jai Bhim’ has made it to the World Competition segment of the 20th Pune International Film Festival, which is scheduled to be held from March 3 to 10.

The other films that are in this category are director Gabor Fabricius’s ‘Erasing Frank’ (Hungary), director Iciar Bollain’s ‘Maixabel’ (Spain), director Shawkat Amin Korki’s ‘The Exam’ (Germany, Iraq-kurdistan, Qatar), director Laura Wandel’s ‘Playground’ (Belgium), director Simon Holy’s ‘Zrcadla Ve Tme'(‘Mirrors in the Dark’) (Czech Republic), director Leonardo Antonio’s ‘Submission’ (Portugal, France), director Selman Nacar’s ‘Iki Safak Arasinda'(‘Between Two Dawns’) (Turkey, Romania, France, Spain), director Mohamed Diab’s ‘Amira’ (Egypt) and Aleksey German Jr.’s ‘House Arrest’ (Russia).

The Pune International Film Festival, a prestigious event, is Maharashtra’s official film festival.

2D Entertainment, the firm that produced ‘Jai Bhim’ shared its excitement at the film having made it to the Pune Film Festival’s World Competition segment.

Taking to Twitter, the production house said, “‘Jai Bhim’ makes it into the World Competition line up at PIFF India.”

Interestingly, ‘Jai Bhim’ was one of the Indian films that were on the list of 276 movies eligible for this year’s Academy Awards. However, it did not make it to the nominations.

Inspired by true events that happened in Tamil Nadu in the nineties, the film tells the moving story of an upright lawyer coming to the aid of poor, defenceless people from the Irular community who have no means to stand up to the might of an inhuman police force that seeks to exploit their helplessness and audaciously commits atrocity after atrocity on them with impunity.

Director Tha Se Gnanavel’s critically acclaimed courtroom drama, ‘Jai Bhim’, featuring actors Suriya, Lijomol Jose and Manikandan in the lead, has won three awards at the Ninth Noida International Film festival, 2022.

The film fetched Suriya the Best Actor award and Lijomol Jose, the award for Best Actress. It also took home the award for Best Film. On Monday, Rajsekar Karpoorasundarapandian, the CEO of 2D Entertainment, the production house that produced the film, announced the news on twitter.

He tweeted that ‘Jai Bhim’ had won the Best Film, Best Actor for Suriya and Best Actress award for Lijomol Jose at the Noida International Film Festival 2022!

The film, which tells the moving story of an upright lawyer coming to the aid of poor, defenseless people from the Irular community who have no means to stand up to the might of an inhuman police force that seeks to exploit their helplessness and commits atrocity after atrocity on them with impunity, has been winning widespread acclaim ever since it released.

Overwhelmed by the support pouring in for him from both the film industry and from fans across the country, Tamil star Suriya on Wednesday took to Twitter to express his gratitude.

He tweeted: “This love for #Jaibhim is overwhelming. I’ve never witnessed this before! Can’t express in words how thankful I am for the trust and reassurance you all have given us. Heartfelt thanks for standing by us.”

The actor, who hasn’t been on Twitter for quite a while, also took time to respond individually to some of the tweets, both from fans and other celebrities.

Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu Thiraipada Iyakkunargal Sangam (TANTIS), better known as the Tamil Film Directors’ Union, has backed Suriya and written a letter to PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss, urging him to look at Suriya as a brother.

Stating that both creative freedom and political freedom were important, the office-bearers of the Directors’ Union pointed out to Ramadoss that if a mistake had occurred unknowingly, resolving the issue in a friendly manner would be the most healthy thing to do.

Coming out strongly in support of its member, actor and producer Suriya, the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce on Monday asked PMK leader and former Union minister Anbumani Ramadoss to refrain from criticising the actor over his film ‘Jai Bhim’.

In a letter to Ramadoss, South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce President Katragadda Prasad pointed out that Suriya had acceded to his request for removal of a symbol from the Tamil film ‘Jai Bhim’ that was recently released on an OTT platform.

“Respecting your feelings, our member Suriya immediately removed that symbol from the film,” Prasad said.

“The South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce is pained by the fact that your party cadres continue to criticise Suriya despite neither the hero of the film nor the production house having anything to do with the decision to use that symbol in the film,” the President of the Chamber said.

Pointing out that Suriya, who did not have any political, caste or religious affiliations, was a socially responsible philanthropist and was a beacon of hope in the field of education, especially to students on the fringes of society, Prasad urged Ramadoss to refrain from criticising the actor.

The stand-off between the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and actor Suriya over the issue of the latter’s film ‘Jai Bhim’ allegedly insulting the Vanniyar community escalated on Sunday when a group of PMK cadres forced a theatre in Mayiladuthurai district to stop screening a Suriya film.

Sources said that a group of PMK cadres raised slogans outside the Peerless theatre on Park Avenue Road that was screening ‘Vel’, a Suriya film. The theatre management pulled out the film that was being screened.

The group, led by PMK’s Mayiladuthurai district secretary Panneerselvam, also submitted a petition to Mayiladuthurai Superintendent of Police, demanding action against Suriya.

Speaking to reporters, Pannerselvam, who said that the PMK would not allow any Suriya film to be screened in Mayiladuthurai, went on to announce a reward of Rs one lakh to anybody who assaults the actor when he visits the district.

Only days ago, a war of words had erupted between PMK chief Anbumani Ramadoss, who wrote a letter to Suriya, levelling allegations and demanding answers. Suriya had on Thursday neatly responded in kind, politely but firmly denying allegations and replying to all the questions asked.

Suriya-starrer ‘Jai Bhim’ is set to release on Tuesday on Prime Video and it has already got fans kicked as there is palpable excitement about the film. Giving another reason to rejoice for fans, the streaming giant has now revealed that the film will be released in five Indian languages.

The film will cater to a broad set of audiences across demographics as it’s set to release in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam. Headlined by Suriya, ‘Jai Bhim’ is a thought-provoking story inspired by real-life incidents based on the life of popular advocate and judge – Justice Chandru. It talks about how the judge went beyond the call of duty to serve justice.

Written and directed by Tha. Se. Gnanavel, ‘Jai Bhim’ stars Suriya in the lead along with Prakash Raj, Rao Ramesh, Rajisha Vijayan, Manikandan, and Lijo Mol Jose in pivotal roles. The films boasts of a stellar technical team as DOP S.R. Kadhir, editor Philominraj, and art director Kadhir and music composer Sean Rolden have worked together on the film.

Produced by Suriya and Jyotika under the banner of 2D Entertainment in association with Rajsekar Karpoorasundarapandian, the film is ready to stream on Prime Video from November 2, across 240 countries and territories.

Amazon Prime Video launched the official teaser of the much-awaited courtroom drama ‘Jai Bhim’. Featuring Suriya as a lawyer, the upcoming drama is helmed by T.J. Gnanavel and is bankrolled by Suriya and Jyotika’s 2D Entertainment.

All set for its release on Amazon Prime Video on November 2, ‘Jai Bhim’ has got an ensemble cast of actors like Prakash Raj, Rao Ramesh, Rajisha Vijayan, Manikandan, and Lijo Mol Jose. This intense courtroom drama is to start streaming this Diwali in Tamil and Telugu across 240 countries and territories.

On the auspicious day of Dussehra, the makers of ‘Jai Bhim’ launched the official teaser, which hints at the main crux of the movie. This is a story that takes us through the lives of the innocent tribal people, who earn to make their ends meet.

‘Jai Bhim’ is to mirror the social injustice and brutality against innocent people. Suriya Siva Kumar plays advocate Chandru who battles for human rights. The teaser sets the tone for a highly engrossing and intense narrative, laid out in a hard-hitting courtroom drama.

It is co-produced by Rajsekar Karpoorasundarapandian, while Sean Rolden composes the music. It will release in Tamil and Telugu on Amazon Prime Video, on November 2.

Multiple award-winning Tamil actor Suriya on Monday shared a captivating motion poster from the courtroom drama “Jai Bhim”. The upcoming film will be streamed on Amazon Prime Video, starting from November 2, but the poster has doubled the hype building up around the movie.

The motion poster introduces Suriya in a powerful narrative setting, reminding his fans about the legal personalities who fought for social uplift. The film, which also showcases the talents of Prakash Raj, Rao Ramesh, Rajisha Vijayan and Lijo Mol Jose, is also about the struggles of certain sections of people in a divided society.

“Jai Bhim” has been written and directed by T.J. Gnanavel. The music is by Sean Roldan, which is the industry name of Tamil composer Raghavendra Raja Rao. Suriya and his wife and co-star Jyotika have produced the movie under the 2D Entertainment banner.

South Indian top actor Suriya tested his luck last year with Soorarai Pottru and the film had a direct digital release through Amazon Prime. The film received critical accalim and Suriya’s work is appreciated widely. The actor today announced that his upcoming movie Jai Bhim will head for a direct digital release through Amazon Prime in November this year during the Diwali weekend. Suriya essays the role of a lawyer in Jai Bhim.

TS Gnanavel directed the movie and the shoot reached the final stages. Suriya and Jyotika produced this bilingual on 2D Entertainment banner. Rajisha Vijayan is the leading lady and Prakash Raj plays a pivotal role in this courtroom drama that is shot simultaneously in Tamil and Telugu languages. Suriya is also making his digital debut with Navarasa that will stream on Netflix from tomorrow.