Support continues to pour in for Vijay, director H Vinoth and the team behind Jana Nayagan, a day after the big-budget actioner was leaked online on pirated sites, causing massive furore and anger amongst the film fraternity and audiences.
On Friday, some major names in the film industry including Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Suriya, Karthi, Sivakarthikeyan, and Khushbu Sundar voiced their concern on the rampant usage of pirated sites for streaming films and urged audiences to respect art and artists by celebrating movies in theatres. Now, more celebrities have joined in to share their views on the issue.
Director Lokesh Kanagaraj, who has worked with Vijay in Leo, termed piracy as a "gut wrenching experience". "(It) shatters the dreams of thousands of people who’ve put in their everything for this film," he said, extending his support to the team. "Let’s always consume art the way it was supposed to be, in the big screens," he added.
Filmmaker Mari Selvaraj expressed his shock and sorrow on the leak and urged the government to protect the "dreams, hard work, and livelihoods" of filmmakers by identifying the culprits and subjecting them to severe punishment.
Similarly, director Parthiban too shared his concern, noting that it is "grave crime" to watch and share the leaked visuals. "Beyond being a crime, it is an act devoid of humanity. Let the law deliver its punishment. But only by refusing to watch it can we completely shatter the conspirators behind its release," he wrote.
Vignesh Shivan, who recently saw the release of Love Insurance Kompany (LIK), said his heart "pains and bleeds" on witnessing the incident. "As audience with a heart and understanding how difficult it is even to make a frame it's our responsibility to make sure this doesn't affect the film's release in anyway! My support to my friend and director H Vinoth And team! This too shall pass!," he said on his Instagram story.
Previously, other filmmakers like Karthik Subbaraj, RJ Balaji and Rajkumar Periasamy had also shared similar thoughts on the issue.
Actor Soori, on Saturday, said it was an "outright theft" that doesn't just affect one film, but "impacts the hard work and lives of hundreds of people." "This isn't just a cinema problem… It's a mindset that doesn't respect labor. The only response to this is strict action," he wrote.
Actor-choreographer Prabhu Deva too commented on the controversy, underlining that piracy is "unfair and disheartening".
Besides them, producers Kalaipuli S Thanu, Archana and Aishwarya Kalpathi, GV Prakash, Vijay Antony, Shanthnu, Sibi Sathyaraj and many others had voiced their concern and urged people to respect filmmakers and cinema. The Tamil Film Producers Council as well as Film Employees' Federation of South India (FEFSI) too condemned the act.
While KVN Productions had warned of strict action and are taking necessary measures to identify the perpetrators, a word from Vijay or H Vinoth is awaited. Earlier in the day, Pooja Hegde, who plays a key role in Jana Nayagan, expressed her sadness on seeing it being leaked. "It is tough-not because of numbers, but because it takes away the respect that every artist and technician on the film deserves," she wrote on her Instagram story, calling on audiences to watch the film in theatres to celebrate Vijay's last film.