Director Cheran has hit out at actor Vishal, the General Secretary of the Nadigar Sangam, in a 7 page letter. Cheran has accused Vishal of being “selfish, power hungry and insensitive.”
Cheran feels that there's no need for Vishal to contest in the upcoming Producers' Council elections since he's already the General Secretary of the Nadigar Sangam and will be better off supporting others who are more eligible than he is for the post.
Taking a jibe at the kind of films Vishal has done so far, Cheran has said that Vishal has a "saviour complex" and that he won the Nadigar Sangam elections only through the support of actor and AIADMK member JK Ritheesh who did "all kinds of things" to achieve this.
Cheran has accused Vishal of not doing his job at the Nadigar Sangam: "You say that you will give all the members of the Producers' Council a piece of land if you come to power but what have you done for the members of the Nadigar Sangam? You have expelled 300 innocent actors from the Sangam, who believed in you and voted for you."
He also added that Vishal has not bothered to help out the producer who had introduced him and was now in debt. "You'd promised to settle an amount of Rs 45 lakh to him. What happened to that? You've earned crores since then, do you still find it difficult to give him the money?"
Cheran said that when Vishal hadn't extended his help to the man who introduced him, he shouldn't act as if he cares about other producers. He also observed that Vishal had never worked with any small producer and that he shouldn't claim to be concerned about them.
Calling his lust for power a disease, Cheran said that Vishal's concern for Kamal Haasan was dubious and that someone of Kamal's stature did not require a nobody like Vishal to come to his rescue.
The enraged director also accused Vishal of not supporting his C2H scheme (Cinema to Home) to counter piracy because he was so self-centered that he would only voice his concern if it would benefit him personally.
Cheran also said, “Apparently, I need help it seems. Since I don’t have any movies, they say Producers’ Council has to pay me Rs 5000 per month. This is funnier than the comedy that you do in your movies.”
Cheran added that he was, in fact, now doing a film with actor Vijay Sethupathi who respected him enough as a filmmaker to offer him dates and make a commitment despite knowing the financial trouble that he was in. Praising Vijay Sethupathi, Cheran said that he was a true example of compassion.
This is not for the first time that Cheran has had a go at Vishal. The director, who had campaigned for actor and politician Sarathkumar during the Nadigar Sangam elections, accused Vishal and actor Karthi of disrespecting him when he'd approached them for films.
He later expressed regrets for his words after the Sarathkumar camp was defeated.
Vishal has not yet responded to the director's latest salvo.