The Madras High Court has issued orders for no strict action to be taken against leading Tamil actor-producer Suriya after a case was filed against the actor-producer for allegedly hurting the sentiments of the Vanniyar community by portraying them in a bad light in his 2021 film, Jai Bhim, on Monday, July 18. Suriya and director T. J. Gnanavel had filed a joint petition before the Madras High Court to quash a First Information Report (FIR) that had been registered against them at the Velachery police station in Chennai by advocate K. Santhosh of Rudra Vanniyar Sena.
Earlier, the complainant had approached the Metropolitan Magistrate’s court in Saidapet and acquired an order to file an FIR against Suriya and Jai Bhim director T. J. Gnanavel. The controversy in the film, which was based on a case Retd. Justice K. Chandru had conducted while he was a lawyer, was surrounding a scene that featured a calendar with the photo of an emblem representing the Vanniyar community. It had also been alleged that the filmmakers had named the villain 'Guru' played by Tamizh in Jai Bhim citing that it was done so to defame one of the leaders of the Vanniyar community, with the court noting that it is a common name and cannot be viewed as a move to tarnish anybody's image. Justice N. Sathish Kumar, who heard the case, also ordered for the case to be adjourned to July 21.
Produced under the 2D Entertainment banner, Jai Bhim evolved around a 1993 legal battle that was led by Rtd. Justice Chandru portrayed by Suriya, who fought for the justice of an Irular tribe woman and the people from the oppressed castes, after they were framed for crimes they did not commit. Jai Bhim also starred Lijomol Jose as Sengeni and Manikandan as Rajakannu, with the supporting cast featuring Rajisha Vijayan, Prakash Raj, Rao Ramesh, Tamizh, Guru Somasundaram, Jayaprakash, M. S. Bhaskar, Ilavarasu, Kumaravel among others, including music composed by Sean Roldan.