Vijay's swansong Jana Nayagan was leaked online on pirated sites on Thursday, enraging fans and audiences. The film fraternity, which was met with rude shock and distress in the aftermath of the incident, expressed their condemnation and voiced their support on social media.

Among the big names was actor Suriya who called the leak "unforgivable". Terming it as "Heartbreaking and unfair", the actor-producer requested audiences to not watch, share, or discuss the film. Soon after, his brother Karthi said it has "hurt an entire industry." Echoing Suriya's words, Karthi called it "unfair, unethical and condemnable."

Actor-politician Khushbu Sundar described piracy as an "organised theft". "Those who indulge in it, are not let less than any criminals and should be treated as one as in any other crime," she wrote, adding, "The leak of Jana Nayagan is a brutal betrayal of every artist, technician, and worker who have poured their blood, sweat, and years into creating something meaningful. One illegal click destroys livelihoods, crush dreams, and cripples an entire industry."

Directors Karthik Subbaraj, RJ Balaji and Rajkumar Periasamy too shared their concern on the issue. The Jigarthanda Double X filmmaker too called piracy a "crime" and emphasised the need to stop it before it "completely kills cinema and its people." RJ Balaji said it was sad and scary to witness the incident. "Can’t imagine the state of people who are involved in making the film. Sad. Scary. This is bad in so many levels. May God be with the team," he added. Rajkumar shared similar reactions and hoped Vijay gets his "theatrical payoff" through the film's release on the big screens and KVN Productions recovers from the back-to-back issues.

Producers Archana and Aishwarya Kalpathi, who backed Vijay's previous film The Greatest of All Time (GOAT) took to their X handles to post on the issue. "Watching pirated content isn’t harmless — it’s the same as walking into a store and taking something without paying," she wrote, highlighting the need to "support creativity" and reject piracy. On the other hand, Aishwarya wrote, "Every illegal upload chips away at the hard work of hundreds of people, both on and off screen."

Kalaipuli S Thanu of V Creations banner said he was shocked to see scenes from Jana Nayagan leaked. He noted that the film was created through the hard work of all the artists and massive investment from producers. He urged people to stop sharing the clips and watch it in theatres.

Earlier in the day, several actors and film industry professionals including Sivakarthikeyan, GV Prakash, Vijay Antony, Shanthnu, Sibi Sathyaraj, producer Suresh Kamatchi, G Dhananjheyan and others voiced their concern on piracy and urged people to respect filmmakers and the hard work that goes behind making films.