Vijay’s festival release Varisu sparks war between Tamil and Telugu nationalism

Varisu will hit screens on Pongal in Tamil Nadu, same day as Makar Sankranti in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

But Telugu Film Producers’ Council want only films originally produced in Telugu to be released in Telugu states on festival days

Both the producer/distributor and director of Varisu are well-known Telugus Dil Raju and Vamshi Paidipally respectively

Varisu will be screened as its Telugu-dubbed version Varasudu in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

But Varisu/Varasudu will clash with two original Telugu releases — Chiranjeevi’s Waltair Veerayya...

...and Balakrishna’s Veera Simha Reddy

So the Telugu producers are against releasing Varisu on a festival day as it would cut the big earning potential of the original Telugu films

Angered over this, Tamil nationalist politicians are saying they would retaliate similarly in Tamil Nadu

Thamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi leader and MLA T Velmurugan said, “This is…an attempt to block Tamil movies in theatres of Andhra and Telangana”

“In Tamil Nadu, no restriction or discrimination is shown to films of other languages like Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada,” Velmurugan pointed out

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“When films like Bahubali, RRR and Pushpa were released in Tamil Nadu, theatres were allocated based only on likely audience reception; they were not discriminated against based on the language, Naam Thamizhar party leader P Seeman said