Chennai:Puli Paarvai, directed by Pravin Gandhi and produced by Vendhar Movies, which is the story of 12-year-old Balachandran, son of LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, who was allegedly killed by the Sri Lankan army, is in the midst of a controversy ever since the promotion of the film commenced.
 
Earlier this month, four different student groups had called for the ban of Puli Paarvai, alleging that it promoted Sri Lankan interests and celebrated child soldiers as Bala was projected as a rebel in the movie.
 
Director/actor Seeman of Naam Tamizhar Katchi raised a plea with the makers of the film to delete three scenes from it, namely, the one in which Prabhakaran’s son is shown wearing a uniform; the scene in which a Sri Lankan army officer is shown to be indulging in inhuman acts; and women LTTE cadres involved in a guerilla attack to ward off hunger.
 
Tamil activists and movements had requested Gandhi to remove some of the objectionable scenes from PP. The recent audio launch of PP witnessed a ruckus when a group of students objected to the film being released. Under these circumstances, at a hurriedly called press conference, Pravin Gandhi revealed that he had removed the objectionable scenes and some of the dialogues had been deleted, although he tried to explain why he projected Balachandran in uniform.
 
“My intention was to show Bala as a brave boy, not a child soldier. Now, as per Seeman, Nedumaran and other social groups’ and students’ groups’ wishes, we are in the process of changing the scene where Bala is shown in uniform. We have also deleted certain dialogues and scenes which Seeman and Nedumaran suggested after watching the film,” he said.
 
The producers were also willing to screen the movie after making the necessary corrections and deletions before its release. Producer Madan said, “We are not against Tamils. The film is meant for Tamilians and it should be released only with the heartfelt consent of all Tamils. If anyone opposes its release even after removing the objectionable scenes, then we would not release it despite the fact that it will run into a loss of several crores of rupees.”