Anger is mounting across Tamil Nadu over the release of the Telugu-language film Kingdom, which has been accused of portraying Eelam Tamils in a deeply derogatory and historically inaccurate manner.
In Ramanathapuram, protesters were seen tearing down banners of the film outside Jagan Theatre, with calls growing louder for the movie to be banned from further screenings across the South India state.
Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) chief coordinator Seeman issued a strongly worded statement condemning the film, which he said “includes scenes that portray Eelam Tamils in a highly negative and criminal light.”
“Under the guise of ‘freedom of expression’, no one can be allowed to distort or misrepresent the history of the Tamil national race,” he said. “The portrayal in the film that Eelam Tamils oppressed Hill Country Tamils is a gross historical distortion and a serious act of deception.”
Seeman denounced the film’s narrative as not only factually false but also as an affront to the sacrifices made by Tamils in the struggle for Tamil Eelam. “The Tamil Eelam liberation struggle is the unparalleled heroic history of martyrs who sacrificed life itself to achieve the noble aspiration of a Tamil Eelam Socialist Republic,” he said, adding that “any depiction that insults the greatness of our national leader Hon. Velupillai Prabhakaran, our sacred martyrs of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, and our umbilical kin — the Eelam Tamils — will never be tolerated.”
Seeman warned that Kingdom not only undermines these continuing efforts for accountability for the Tamil Eelam genocide, but risks fuelling anti-Tamil sentiment. “At a time when we are raising global awareness of the unspeakable injustice and genocide committed against our race, and when we are carefully communicating our legitimate stand to other national races of the world, we cannot accept a film like Kingdom, which contains scenes that demean the dignity of our people and the pain of Eelam Tamils.”
Demanding the film be withdrawn from theatres across Tamil Nadu, he cautioned that if action was not taken immediately, the NTK would “lay siege to theatres and stop the screening of the film.”
Protests are expected to intensify in the coming days, as calls for accountability from the film’s creators grow. The controversy surrounding Kingdom also comes amid broader conversations about anti-Tamil narratives in Indian cinema, and echoes previous critiques over misrepresentations of the Tamil Eelam struggle.
