The upcoming season of ‘The Family Man‘ came under fire a week ago (and is still “under fire”), from the Tamil Government and viewers for its depiction of Eelam Tamils in the series’ recently released trailer. Amazon Prime Video has been having a field day of a week and the lead actors Manoj Bajpai and Samantha Akkineni have not fared any better. With the pan-Indian audience following this controversy through media outlets, news articles, shows, reactions, etc.; all this coverage on an ongoing important issue in Sri Lanka is ultimately going to help the cause for Eelam Tamils (or at the very least, get it noticed).
Sri Lanka was going through one of its worst civil wars in history for a period of 26 years, from 1983 to 2009. This issue happened due to the political and social unrest caused by the Sinhala majority at the time and the discrimination faced by the minor Tamil population due to their different language, ethnicity, and religion in some cases. Even though the war is over, there are still issues between the two ethnic groups and the fight for equality goes on, even now.
Coming back to India, ‘The Family Man’ is the most popular show in India right now. Brilliant writing, brilliant acting and brilliant direction. But now they have decided to tangle with the web that is controversial, and there is no going back. Then again, controversy sells. No two ways about it. All versions of journalistic media use it. Movies and TV series use it. Social media regularly panders to it. Hell, even we have done it (accidentally though) to boost our ratings. But most of us involved don’t want the publicity for the views or the likes, which is not going to help us in the long run. It is so that an issue that has not been talked about for so long, forgotten or shouldn’t be forgotten needs to be brought to the forefront of our conversations.
We are not saying that is why Family Man 2 has brought it up, as the situation in Sri Lanka is still quite serious and needs to be dealt with sensitively. But the fact is, now people are talking about it. Which is the most important thing about any controversy. People. Talking. About. It.
We need more people to know the situation and understand what happened during the civil war and the current situation of the Eelam Tamils after the war. Compare it to the web series and see what they are trying to do – staying out of the way apolitically, or are they making a stance themselves. Decide for yourself, once it comes on Amazon Prime on June 4th 2021.
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