Prabhakaran’s life history to be made into a movie

The life of Velupillai Prabhakaran, the slain chief of the once dreaded Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that fought for a separate Tamil nation to be carved out of Sri Lanka, could soon be made into a movie, courtesy Naam Tamizhar Katchi (NTK) coordinator S Seeman.

Seeman, who eulogises Prabhakaran and the LTTE in almost all his public meetings despite the organisation being outlawed in India, will produce the movie which is likely to be directed by ace filmmaker Vetrimaaran of Asuran and Visaranai fame.

In an announcement, Seeman said he will produce two movies in the near future and both will be directed by Vetrimaaran. “Revolutionary Dr B R Ambedkar had said that people who were ignored or boycotted by history will one day write their own history. The day when we write our own history will come. The day, the world will read the glorious past of Tamils,” Seeman said.

While one will bring alive the “real history” of Raja Raja Cholan of the famed Chola dynasty that ruled parts of the modern day Tamil Nadu on the silver screen, the second one will focus on the life of “Prabhakaran, the unparalleled freedom fighter of the century,” the director-turned-politician said. However, Seeman didn’t give any deadline for the movie.

Sources told DH that Vetrimaaran is also inclined towards directing the movie as he had discussed the issue with Seeman many times. “Seeman did tell Vetrimaaran and others that the movie will be made at the right time. When everything falls in place, it will happen,” a source in the know said.

The movie on Prabhakaran, who was killed by the Sri Lankan Army in 2009 during the last phase of the three-decade-old civil war, is likely to be a “political statement” rather than an “honest account” as Seeman is a known supporter of the LTTE despite its track record of being a terrorist organisation, political analysts said.

The public announcement by Seeman assumes significance as it comes close on the heels of the release of Ponniyin Selvan, an adaption of Kalki’s fictional account of the glorious age of Cholas, especially that of Raja Raja-I who built the famous Brihadeeswarar Temple in Thanjavur in the Cauvery delta region.

Seeman had also earlier this week supported Vetrimaaran who said calling Raja Raja Cholan a “Hindu king” was a misinterpretation of history as a religion called Hinduism never existed in his time.

The NTK chief believes Cholas were strong believers of Shaivite tradition and can never be called Hindus and that Ponniyin Selvan is a fictional account and it cannot be taken as gospel truth. Though NTK has not won elections so far, the party’s vote share has been witnessing an increase every election – from 4 per cent in 2019, the vote percentage grew to 6.3 per cent in 2021.