Narikurava women denied entry in theatre, cinema world condemns

Tamil tinsel world on Friday condemned the behaviour of staff at a popular multiplex who refused to allow members of Narikurava tribal community inside the campus despite them possessing valid tickets for a movie.

From Kamal Haasan to ace director Vetri Maaran to music composer G V Prakash Kumar to popular actor Vijay Sethupathi, everyone denounced the incident as “untouchability” and demanded steps to ensure that such events don’t recur in the future.

Women and children of the Narikurava community were stopped by staff at Rohini Silver Screens in Chennai on Thursday though they had bought tickets to watch ‘Pathu Thala’ on the day of its release. The staff didn’t give a valid reason to have disallowed them to enter but protests from fellow audiences forced the management to intervene and allow them to watch the film.

Videos of them being stopped by the staff and youngsters among the audience questioning them went viral on social media. To control the damage, the Rohini management posted videos of the women sitting inside the theatre and watching the movie. The theatre management’s statement also came in for criticism as it deflected the blame on the staff by claiming that the women were stopped because they had children with them who cannot watch the U/A certified film.

G V Prakash Kumar, also the nephew of legendary music composer A R Rahman, was the first to take to Twitter to condemn the incident. “Art belongs to everyone,” Prakash wrote on his Twitter page.

Kamal Haasan said The nomad tribes were not allowed to enter the theatre premises despite them carrying valid tickets. “They were allowed to watch the film after protests on social media. This is condemnable,” the actor said.

Vetri Maaran, who directed critically acclaimed films like Aadukalam and Visaranai, said theatres broke untouchability a century ago and said it is a dangerous trend to have disallowed the working class inside a theatre by practicing untouchability.

“Though they have been allowed inside after protests, it is condemnable that such an incident took place,” Vetri Maaran added.

Vijay Sethupathi said nobody can accept another man being discriminated against or oppressed. “The world was created for everyone to live, and we should live in harmony,” he said.

In 2021, a Narikurava woman was denied dignity at a temple where free food was served. Within a week, HR & CE minister P K Sekarbabu dined with her at the same temple and Chief Minister M K Stalin visited her house in Mamallapuram.

In the statement, the management said children below the age of 12 cannot be permitted to watch any movie that is certified U/A as per the law. “Our ticket checking staff has denied entry on this basis to the family who had come with children aged 2, 6, 8 and 10,” the statement.

“However, since the audience gathered turned into a frenzy and took a different perspective of the situation without full understanding, in order to avert any law-and-order problem and to de-sensitivise the matter, the same family was allowed entry to watch the movie on time,” the statement added.