While Bollywood has been forced to tread carefully when it comes to religion, south Indian films still seem comfortable with a good dose of irreverence. The teaser for Vijay Sethupathi's Oru Nalla Naal Paathu Solren has the maverick actor asking who is better – Rama or Ravana?
In the teaser, VS, as he's known, says, "Ravana kidnapped Sita but did not lay a finger on her and kept her safe – but we call him a demon. Rama, who saved her, made her undergo a trial by fire on the basis of suspicion and we call him a god. So is Rama a bad guy or Ravana?"
As the people listening to him start fighting about who is good and who is bad, VS declares that in this story, he is both Rama and Ravana. The actor can be seen in some really cool avatars, including one with giant Ravana horns and another in which he seems to be playing a saamiyar. Perhaps he is part of a drama troupe?
Written and directed by Arumuga Kumar, the teaser of the film has garnered over 2 million views in a matter of days. The film also features Gautham Karthik and Niharika Konidela.
The Padmavati row is still raging on national news but other than a few comments from social media users, objecting to the question VS poses, the rest don't seem to be bothered.
Some have taken the trouble to explain the story of the curse which prevented Ravana from assaulting Sita, most though have taken a potshot at the BJP and said this is another film for which the party will create free publicity. This is a reference to what happened with Vijay's Mersal – the BJP kicked up a storm, objecting to certain scenes from the film which take a dig at GST and demonetisation.
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