Ban release of OTT show 'The Family Man 2' across India, Tamil Nadu govt urges Centre

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government on Monday urged the Centre to take immediate steps either to stop or ban the release of the serial "The Family Man-2" in OTT, Amazon Prime not only in Tamil Nadu but also across the country since it depicts Eelam Tamils in a highly objectionable manner. 

Minister for Information Technology, Mano Thangaraj, in his letter to Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Prakash Javadekar, said the trailer of The Family Man-2 serial in Hindi is aimed at discrediting and distorting the historical struggle of Eelam Tamils in Sri Lanka. 

"The sacrifices of their long drawn out democratic battle has been intentionally undermined and it could not, by any stretch of the imagination, be considered merely as a serial with any value for tamil culture. Moreover, a serial which is loaded with insults and insinuations against the glorious tamil culture could never be considered as the one having any broadcasting value," Thangaraj said. 

The Minister also pointed out that for example, branding Tamil speaking actress Samantha as a terrorist in the serial is directly an attack on the pride of Tamils living around the world and no one would tolerate this kind of motivated and mischievous campaign.

“The trailer of this serial has already evoked strong and widespread opposition from the people of Tamil Nadu as well as from the political parties in the state. While our brethren Eelam Tamils are struggling for decades to enjoy the fruits of equality, justice, peace, and dignity in the island nation, it is highly unwarranted for an organization like Amazon Prime to undertake this kind of smear campaign against the Tamils who are the builder of India as well as many nations across the globe,” the Minister added. 

The Minister charged that the serial has not only hurt the sentiments of Eelam Tamils but also the feelings of the people of Tamil Nadu on a large scale and if allowed to broadcast, it would be prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony in the state.

The previous AIADMK regime, in November 2011, banned the screening of the film Dam 999 in Tamil Nadu as it indirectly hinted that the Mullaiperiyar dam would collapse.