Billed as the DMK’s film for the election season, Sudha Kongara’s Parasakthi, whose title is borrowed from the “quintessential DMK film” of the same name written by former DMK president M. Karunanidhi, has been slammed by none other than the DMK’s political ally, Congress, on the grounds that it misrepresents facts and advances non-existent conspiracies to prop up its narrative.
Demanding the removal of “ahistorical scenes” from the film and an apology, Tamil Nadu Youth Congress vice-president Arun Bhaskar has said scenes involving Congress leader Indira Gandhi, played by a lookalike, and the student leader were not historically accurate as Indira Gandhi did not visit Coimbatore on Februrary 12, 1965, or when the film shows her being welcomed by a train on fire, carrying signatures against imposition of Hindi.
Significant sequence
One of Parasakthi’s most significant sequences takes place near Pollachi where Chezhiyan (played by Sivakarthikeyan) has to prove to the Prime Minister that his anti-Hindi imposition stand is the voice of the masses and not his alone. To do so, he gathers students from across Tamil Nadu secretly and tries to galvanise a force, even as local forces try to stop him from doing so.
In a heart-wrenching sequence, armed personnel fire at the protesting students in their quest to glean the whereabouts of Chezhiyan. Meanwhile, he has gathered students from other South Indian States as well and they also believe that Hindi imposition may result in loss of jobs and livelihoods. This, and several other facts, as portrayed in the film, have become a topic of controversy.
Mr. Arun Bhaskar argued that the law is clear that political leaders who are no more should not be shown in films as being part of events that had never happened. “The claims made in the ‘end credits’ of the film — in which the photographs of Congress leaders such as Kamaraj, Indira Gandhi, and Lal Bahadur Shastri are shown with a dubious claim that around 200 Tamils were killed by the then Congress government in Pollachi — have no proof,” he said.
While The Hindu is still waiting for Ms. Kongara to respond, the archival reports of The Hindu recount that 66 people were killed in police firing in the whole of Tamil Nadu as on February 15, 1965.
Unscheduled visit
While it was true that Indira Gandhi, the Minister for Information and Broadcasting at the time, made an unscheduled visit to Madras on February 12, 1965 (as reported in The Hindu) and met Kamaraj and other Congress leaders through the day, the February 14 edition of The Hindu said she was again engaged in meetings with Congress workers at Sathyamurthy Bhavan in Chennai on February 13. She returned to New Delhi that evening to report back to the then Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri.
On arrival in Madras, she said, “The Hindi policy of the Union government had been evolved over the years with the consent of the non-Hindi States and incorporated in the Constitution and other statutes. The Government of India would always stand by the guarantee and assurances given by Mr. Nehru to the non-Hindi speaking peoples about safeguards for them following Hindi becoming the Union official language.”
She was then engaged in discussions with Kamaraj, who returned to Madras in the afternoon of February 12, and Kamaraj is reported to have said the “talks” would continue the next day (February 13). Speaking on February 13, Indira Gandhi expressed “the hope that the forthcoming conference of State Chief Ministers convened by the Prime Minister on February 23 and 24 at Delhi would consider the language policy in the light of what had happened here and decide upon the future line of action.”
On Army opening fire
Particularly with respect to the incidents in Pollachi on February 12, 1965, a report published in The Hindu on February 13, 1965, said, “Army jawans opened fire to-day to disperse violent crowds in Pollachi town… At least 10 persons were feared killed when the Special Armed Police and the jawans resorted to shooting at two places in the town which was a scene of devastation and vandalism. This is the first time that the Army has opened fire to quell the anti-Hindi riots in Madras State. Seven bodies were recovered from the scenes of shooting by the authorities. The other three bodies are reported to have been taken away by the fleeing mob.”
Another report published in The Hindu on February 22, 1965, said, “They opened fire thrice accounting for 20 rounds. A sense of insecurity prevailed everywhere in the town and people went about asking for police protection to save themselves and their properties from the mischief of the hooligans roaming about the place openly with petrol and match sticks in their hands.”
Then CM’s clarification
The then Chief Minister, M. Bhaktavatsalam, clarified in March that year in the Assembly that “machine guns were not used” by the Army to quell disturbances. He was answering a question posed by A. Kunjan Nadar.
(With inputs from Srinivasa Ramanujam)
Published – January 13, 2026 11:16 pm IST
