Here, we bring you a list of controversies and issues that plagued the Tamil film industry in 2019.

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CE Year In Review: 25 biggest Kollywood controversies of 2019

Over the past year, the Tamil film industry has been privy to several controversies from post-release censoring to unending plagiarism disputes. Insensitive remarks on women harassment and the MeToo moment sparked spirited discourse and often, evoked deafening silence. Fan wars turned uglier. Politicians became more intolerant.

Team CE

Published:31st Dec, 2019 at 1:37 AM

Simbu was dropped from Venkat Prabhu's Maanadu after he had allegedly been the cause for the delays in the shoot. Producer Suresh Kamachi announced that he would resume the film with another star.

Simbu announced an own production titled Maghaa Maanadu. However, the intervention of the TFPC seemed to have resulted in a truce of sorts. Filming for Maanadu is expected to start in January.

Director Bala's version of the Tamil remake of Arjun Reddy, titled Varmaa, was scrapped at the last moment by the production house. They went on to shoot a completely new version retaining only Dhruv.

The new version, titled Adithya Varma, which featured October-fame Banita Sandhu as the female lead, was then released to watered down response from the audience.

There are now unconfirmed reports that Bala's version might soon get a Netflix release.

Actor-politician Karunas expressed his disappointment over the line ‘Aanda Parambarai’ in Vetrimaaran's Asuran, which he said denoted his ‘Mukkulathor’ community.

Vetrimaaran, however, acknowledged the request of Karunas and muted the line from the film. Interestingly, Karunas’ son, Ken, plays Dhanush's younger son in Asuran.

Things took a turn for the better for Gautham Menon after Ishari Ganesh of Vels Film International came on board to release the filmmaker's long-delayed project, Enai Nokki Paayum Thotta (ENPT).

GVM, in return, has reportedly given the nod to direct four films under Vels, the first of which, titled Joshua, is set to star the producer's nephew, Varun, as the main lead.

The other 3 projects of GVM with Ishari Ganesh are said to star Suriya, Anushka Shetty, and Rajini, respectively. But, the fate of Gautham's own productions like Naragasooran and NM remains unknown.

Many Thalapathy fans took to social media to share their dreadful ordeal during the Bigil Audio Launch. Many were allegedly beaten up by the security guards and forced to return for lack of space.

20000 tickets were allegedly sold for a venue with a seating capacity of 10000. While the organisers didn't comment, a source claimed that the sale of fake tickets resulted in the unmanageable crowd.

Amala Paul, who made headlines with her nude act in Aadai, was ousted from Vijay Sethupathi's upcoming romantic drama, VSP 33, after the official announcement, and was replaced by Megha Akash.

Amala released a emotional statement claiming that the ousting happening right after the release of Aadai teaser only reflected the patriarchal and egoistic mindset of Chandaraa Arts.

For four decades, Raja had been working in his office located inside the Prasad Studios. The current management of the studios had sought to vacate Raja from its premises for the sake of renovation.

Raja went to court, and the court recommended another mediation in its premises, between the two parties to attempt an amicable solution to the dispute. The result is still unknown.

The TN government went to court stating that the Nadigar Sangam elections, which happened in June, should be declared invalid, as they were not in accordance with the by-laws of the association.

The government also alleged irregularities in the postal ballots, and removal of names from the rolls, while also pointing out that the last office bearers extended their stay at the helm of affairs.

Because of this intervention by the government, the vote-counting still remains incomplete. For now, the ballots have been placed securely in a private bank in Chennai.

Meanwhile, a special officer has been appointed by the government to oversee the proceedings of the association, until disputes pending with the Madras High Court are resolved.

ARadha Ravi, who had developed notoriety for being a rabble-rouser at film-related events, made some slut-shaming remarks on Nayanthara during the trailer launch of Kolaiyuthir Kaalam.

In response to calls for action, Nadigar Sangam came out with a strongly-worded warning to Radha Ravi. DMK leader MK Stalin suspended Ravi from the party for his derogatory statements.

Nayanthara, for her part, scathingly remarked that actors like Radha Ravi resort to such tactics to remain relevant, and added that the applause from the audience to his speeches is 'ghastly shocking'

Nayanthara also urged the Nadigar Sangam to set up an Internal Complaints Committee as per the Supreme Court's dictum and initiate an internal inquiry as per the Vishakha guidelines.

Veteran actor-director K Bhagyraj faced a backlash for his statements in an event about men not being the only reason behind the sexual harassment of women.

Bhagyaraj supported his statement by recalling the Tamil adage, ‘Oosi edam kudukkaama nool nuzhaiyaathu’. He went on to comment that boys aren't the only people responsible for the Pollachi rapes.

A political party called Anaithu Makkal Katchi filed a complaint with the commissioner's office against the makers of Aadai for 'promoting nudity', 'encouraging rapes,'`` and 'spoiling Tamil culture'.

The founder of Anaithu Makkal Katchi also put forward some serious allegations against the film's lead, Amala Paul, claiming that the latter did not care about our culture since she is not from TN.

A director named KP Selva claimed rights to Bigil's story, stating he had registered it with the Film Writers Association a few years back. He also sought a ban on Bigil's release.

After the court's refusal to stay the release, the matter is said to have been settled out of court.

Incidentally, this was not the only plagiarism charge levied against Bigil. Two other filmmakers - Meeraan and Nandi Chinni Kumar (from AP) - had claimed that Bigil is based on their own scripts.

In yet another case, Pa Krishnamoorthy, an associate of Parthiban, who had claimed rights to the story of Comali, was left unhappy with the way he was credited in the film.

Krishnamoorthy's name appeared in small font, only for a few seconds in Comali. Director Pradeep’s ‘card’, which appeared next, seemed to suggest that the premise is common & doesn't belong to anyone.

Director K Bhagyaraj of the Writers’ Union sent out a press note saying that the core plot of Hero and the story of assistant director, Bosco Prabhu, are the same.

Reacting to this, Hero director PS Mithran pointed out that his script was inspired by many newspaper articles and declaring plagiarism charges just by comparing the synopses was unfair.

Fans of Vijay and Ajith fighting it out on Twitter is not something new to Kollywood's ecosystem. However, producer Dhananjayan and Kotapadi J Rajesh of KJR Studios also got pulled into one ugly war.

While answering a question on Twitter about whether Viswasam collected 125 crore in 8 days, Dhananjayan said that it's 'absolutely exaggerated'. This didn't go down well with Ajith fans & KJR studios.

KJR gave a scathing reply about watching one's own back first. The warring tweets, in turn, resulted in a deluge of hate memes and trolls.

Raghava Lawrence, a self-proclaimed fan of Rajini, spoke about vandalising Kamal's posters when he was a kid at the Darbar audio launch, and was at the receiving end of a lot of trolls from Kamal fans

To put an end to this outrage, Lawrence issued a statement explaining that he was a kid when he tore Kamal Sir's posters, and now, he had matured into 'someone who has a lot of respect for him.'

When the backlash continued unabated, Lawrence even went to the extent of meeting Kamal Haasan, and explaining his stance to him. A happy picture made it to social media.

A formal complaint against actor Oviya, director Anita Udeep, and the cast members of the film, 90 ML, was submitted by the Indian National League Party (INLP)’s Women’s Wing chief to the commissioner

In addition to asking for the arrest of Oviya and the director, she had also called for a blanket ban on the film. Calling 90 ML a disgrace to “Tamil culture”, she alleged that it instigated rape.

Taking a cue from INLP, Tamil Nadu Kalachara Paathukapu Peravai also lodged a complaint. Oviya responded by saying that chauvinists and narrow-minded people should stay away from the film.

Mysskin's next, Psycho, starring Udhayanidhi and Aditi Rao Hydari, was initially slated for release on Dec 27, but censor issues meant that the release had to be postponed.

The censor board had reportedly objected to the film's title alleging that it failed to satisfy the guidelines pertaining to mental health-related titles in cinema.

Mysskin then reached out to the revising committee of CBFC, which reportedly cleared the use of the title, but not before several rounds of discussion with psychologists and the filmmaker.

Santhanam's A1 (Accused No. 1), which was released in June, got into trouble when the Hindu Thamizhar Katchi (HTK) filed a complaint that the film hurt the sentiments of Brahmins.

A scene, which involved a Brahmin woman eating an omelet to prove her love for the hero, had apparently not gone well with the HTK members. Many took to the social media to voice their disapproval.

The makers of Vaibhav-starrer, Sixer, landed in legal trouble, as comedian Goundamani sent a notice condemning the unauthorized use of his photo, dialogues from his iconic role in Chinna Thambi (1991)

In the notice, the comedian had asked the makers to delete the scene in which Vaibhav’s character speaks to Goundamani’s portrait on the wall. Sources hint at an out-of-court settlement.

A title clash ensued between KJR Studios, the makers of Sivakarthikeyan's Hero, and Mythri Movie Makers, the production house behind Vijay Deverakonda‘s next multilingual, directed by Anand Annamalai.

While PS Mithran, the director of the Sivakarthikeyan film, furnished a letter provided by TFPC, Anand, the director of the Vijay Deverakonda film, alleged that he had held the rights for past 2 yrs.

While KJR Studios managed to hold on to the 'Hero' title and release the film, the makers of the Vijay Deverakonda film have reportedly agreed to use a variation of 'Hero', just for the Tamil version.

Early shows of films like Vijay Sethupathi's Sanga Thamizhan, Vishal's Ayogya, and Amala Paul's Aadai were canceled on their respective opening days because of 'unresolved financial issues.'

The release of VJS's Sindhubaadh was also delayed for more than a week for the same reason. The KDM (Key Delivery Message) to start digital screening in theatres was not issued stating non-settlement.

In the case of Sindhubaadh, the issues were resolved only after Vijay Sethupathi intervened, while for Aadai, Amala Paul had to waive off part of her salary to ensure a smooth release.

While the core problem was always between the producers, the financiers and the distributors, those at stake were the theatres and most importantly, scores of fans, awaiting the release.

Lawrence, who was signed to direct Akshay Kumar in the Hindi remake of Muni 2: Kanchana, opted out of the project (titled Laxmmi Bomb), after the makers unveiled the first look without his knowledge.

However, a few days later, he did a U-turn of sorts, and said that he's ready to direct the Hindi version if he is promised the respect he deserves. Ultimately, he was back in the project.

In an interview with a popular channel, Vadivelu called Shankar a 'graphics director' and stated that director Chimbu Deven was largely incompetent during the filming of Imsai Arasan 23am Pulikesi.

Many condemned Vadivelu's speech, asking him to respect those who gave him the biggest hit in his career. Now, reports are rife that Shankar, Chimbudeven are planning to revive Pulikesi2 with YogiBabu

Saravanan, one of the contestants of the third season of Bigg Boss Tamil, was evicted from the reality show without any warning, for his insensitive comments on sexual harassment.

Saravanan confessed on camera that he used to grope women in buses when he was in college, to cheering from the audience. Despite Saravanan's apology, the management decided to terminate him.

In a press meet organised by his very own Agaram Foundation, Suriya highlighted a number of issues that he claimed the draft National Education Policy 2019 had brought into focus.

Suriya alleged policy errors in 3 aspects including the quality of education with regard to entrance exams, the closing down of Anganwadi schools with less than 10 students, and the 3-language policy.

Suriya also urged teachers, students and parents alike to contemplate, debate and weigh in on the latest policy draft published by the Government. His speech received both support and criticism.

Meera Mithun, who was in the news because of cases of fraud being piled up against her, cooked up a storm by alleging that director Cheran touched her inappropriately during her stint in Bigg Boss.

Meera went on to target the show's host, Kamal Haasan, alleging the actor of unduly influencing the team of her upcoming film, Agni Siragugal, into removing her and replacing her with Akshara Haasan.