Madhan Karky has clarified on the allegedly demeaning dialogue in the recently-released Baahubali which has hurt the sentiments of the tribal community. ‘Tamil Puli’ organization, a Dalit outfit, even hurled bombs at a theater screening Baahubali in Madurai yesterday to register their protest.
“I came to know through media sources that a word present in the dialogue of the movie ‘Baahubali’ hurt the sentiments of a few and that, this has led them to acts of violence. In the dialogue quoted to be the issue, “en thaayaiyum thaai naattaiyum endha pagadaikku piRandhavanum thoda mudiyaadhu…”, I had used the term ‘pagadaikku piranthavan’ to mean a person born out of loss in a gambling game of dice. I did not know that it was the name of a community. In other scenes, the hero, who delivers this dialogue, is depicted as someone against caste-ism and even as a child, stands up for equality of all castes, against the norm of his nation. Such a protagonist would never talk ill of any caste. Our intention is not to speak ill of anyone. Just so that the invaders should not be equated to any caste or group, a new language was created for them. We have taken all possible efforts to avoid hurting the feelings of any group. Now, I’m also taking efforts to remove the word that has hurt the sentiments of a community. I’m letting you know that the word will be removed from the movie soon. I’m sorry if anyone has been hurt,” explains Madhan Karky.