Was prepared for all the criticism, says Karthik Subbaraj on mixed response to Jagame Thandhiram

Filmmaker Karthik Subbaraj’s Jagame Thandhiram, which had its world premiere on Netflix earlier this month, saw a polarizing response from audiences. Reacting to the criticism the film has received, Karthik has said the film has received an equal amount of love and hate. 

In an interview with the YouTube channel Open Pannaa, Karthik said, “When we were making the film, we were prepared with this kind of response. We knew that because we were talking about an important issue (immigrant politics), there'll be mixed response. But at the same time, the film has succeeded in making a lot of people talk about the issue we've tried to address. There's been lot of love, lot of hate for the film. Lot of positivity and negativity. But it's all been good (sic).

“You only have control over your film till it’s with you. Once you hand it over the audience, you can’t do anything about the response. Since Iraivi, I’ve been seeing a lot of mixed reviews and opinions for my films. Since we spoke about Eelam Tamils and their fight, we even hired a writer from Sri Lanka to work with us. We were happy when we handed over the film but at the same time we were prepared for the response,” he added. 

Even though Jagame Thandhiram is essentially a gangster drama, it also delves into topics such as man-made borders, immigrant politics and racism. 

The film also has a sub-plot about Eelam Tamils and their fight for survival. Karthik said he wanted to talk about the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils for a long time in his movies. 

The film, which also stars Joju George, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Kalaiarasan and James Cosmo, was originally supposed to be released in theatres last year. However, due to the pandemic, the streaming rights were eventually sold to Netflix.