Filmmaker Vetrimaaran recently attended the trailer launch of Neelira, a film based on incidents from the Sri Lankan civil war. While talking on stage, he slammed recent ‘hate propaganda’ films, leading many on the internet to believe that he was criticising Aditya Dhar and Ranveer Singh’s Dhurandhar films.
Vetrimaaran praised the film’s team for choosing to tell this tale, saying, “Until we tell our stories, our life is what our enemies say they are. We do not have the democracy to tell our own stories.”
He also praised Rana Daggubati for backing the project despite being from the Telugu states, stating, “This film does not talk about hate. This film does not advocate violence. This is not a propaganda film; it is to uphold an ideology.”
Vetrimaaran also made a cheeky comment about the film being certified by the CBFC without going to the revising committee, saying, “Today, everything is turning into propaganda, and propaganda has the power to influence memory. Memory is so fickle because we all know who was the most affected by demonitisation and how many lives were lost when people stood in lines.”
