Karthik Subbaraj took to social media to pen a note regarding the release of his latest production venture, Neelira, which opened in theatres on April 3.

The director-producer wrote, "To my Dear Tamil Audience, Neelira was released on April 3rd. From the very first day of its release, the film has received extraordinary appreciation from both the audiences who watched it and from critics. Neelira is the debut film of Eelam creator Someetharan. Since this is the first Eelam Tamil film of its kind in the history of Indian cinema, we faced many challenges to bring it to a mainstream theatrical release. We have overcome those challenges and achieved it. Emotionally, for us, this itself is a huge victory. We did not make this film with the intention of earning crores in profit. Our goal is to create a space in world cinema where the real stories of the Eelam war, its creations, and its creators can be heard and seen."

He added, "This is a beginning. A great start for a film movement! But if this beginning has to grow, and if more stories and creators like this must come into cinema in the future, then we must give theatres at least a small sense of commercial confidence. We released the film in a limited number of screens at the start- because that is all we were able to get. Beginning on Good Friday, we strongly believed that word of mouth would spread, more audiences would come to theatres, and by Sunday - Easter Day - our film would resurrect through the support of the people. But the Easter for Eelam Tamil cinema has not yet arrived. For many years, Eelam Tamil cinema has been nailed to the cross. Only you can resurrect it. Please do go and watch our film in theatres. It will certainly be worth your time and money."

Neelira is written and directed by Someetharan in his debut, and chronicles a night during the Sri Lankan Civil War. Rana Daggubati has also produced the film.