Joke on Rajinikanth deleted from Comali: Jayam Ravi

Seeking to end the controversy triggered by a joke in his upcoming film Comali, actor Jayam Ravi has announced that the scenes that had offended fans of actor Rajinikanth would be removed from the film.

The trailer of Comali, featuring Jayam Ravi, Kajal Aggarwal and Samyuktha Hegde in the lead, was released on Saturday. In the trailer, there is a scene in which Jayam Ravi is seen waking up from coma after 16 years. Yogi Babu, who happens to be his friend, tries to convince Ravi that he has been asleep for 16 years. To prove his point, he switches on the television. A news channel appears and Rajinikanth is seen announcing his decision to enter politics soon. Yogi Babu then turns to Ravi and says, “See? We are in 2016!” Jayam Ravi, however, retorts saying, “Who are you trying to con? This is 1996.”

This joke on Rajinikanth not having entered politics even after almost 20 years of having announced his decision to do so did not go down well with the Superstar’s fans, who made a hashtag #BoycottComali trend on Twitter the very same night.

With the outrage over the joke showing no signs of abating, Jayam Ravi issued a statement in which he claimed that the Superstar himself had enjoyed the joke but that he was deleting this joke from the film as it had offended the fans of the superstar.

His statement read as follows…

Right from the beginning of my career, I have made a conscious effort to maintain a clean and straight record, thereby not involving myself in controversial issues. My stance and ideologies have only been exhibited in movies through the fictional characters I have played and have never crossed those limits. I have always been a cordial and congenial friend to everyone and feel blessed to enjoy the privilege of being regarded as a mutual pal in the industry.

I am extremely happy to see the overwhelming positive response to the trailer of my forthcoming release “Comali”. The movie is already being labelled as a fun-filled family entertainer even before its release. I thank my fellow co-stars, media, the audiences and my fans for the love you have shown to the trailer.

However, a particular substance in the trailer involving Shri Rajinikanth sir has unfortunately hurt the sentiments of a few Thalaivar fans. I would like to make it clear that the element was included in a positive light. Being a hardcore Superstar Rajini sir fan, I have been as eager and anxious as any other follower to see him embark on his political journey. We all grew up watching his movies, his action and style had mandatorily become an inherent part of our nature and there is no way that we would show such disrespect to him in any way or his fans. What has made him more lovable than before is that he saw the trailer of Comali and appreciated our team for the creative appeal and congratulated us for coming up with an unique idea. However, to see that such an ideation without any deliberate intent has been receiving resentments and some negative feedbacks from a section of his fans, we have decided to delete the portion in the movie.

Keeping fingers crossed, I am happily waiting to meet you as Comali in theatres on August 15, 2019.

Meanwhile, the director and producer of the film too spoke their minds on the issue. Here is the video clip in which they are seen talking about the issue.