Amid Cauvery Dispute, Kannada Star Darshan Thoogudeepa's Dig At Rajinikanth’s Jailer

The decades-long Cauvery water-sharing dispute between the two south Indian states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu has hit the headlines again. The two states have been engaged in a tussle over the release of water from the Cauvery. Past instances have shown that when tensions between the two adjacent states over the subject of water-sharing heat up, the movie industry suffers a lot. There is also a lot of pressure on the actors from both film industries to make their stance clear on the dispute.

A protest rally was recently held in Karnataka regarding the Cauvery issue and Kannada star Darshan Thoogudeepa, who participated in it, made some controversial statements while putting forward his stance regarding the issue Darshan requested to know why only a select few people are required to speak out against such a critical issue while those who profit greatly from the same ecosystem are spared from it. He mentioned a film distributor who made enormous profits by distributing a popular Tamil film, but he avoided mentioning any specific names.

But it was pretty clear that his indication was towards the recent Tamil hit Jailer starring Rajinikanth. Not only did the film’s original Tamil version do well but the Kannada version also did a business of Rs 6 crore in Karnataka, a record-breaking collection. Darshan said that the distributor had bought the movie for Rs 6 crore and made a profit of Rs 36 crore and yet these people are not visible to the people but actors like Darshan, Sudeep, Yash or Shiva Rajkumar are always questioned about their absence or stance.

It is noteworthy that Kannada superstar Shiva Rajkumar, who is also often expected to take a stand on the Cauvery issue, was a part of Rajinikanth’s Jailer, appearing in an extended cameo. The Karnataka government has been ordered by the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) to release 5000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu daily for 15 days. Many Kannada celebrities including Kiccha Sudeep, have tweeted about the situation and urged the state government to defend the rights of Karnataka’s farmers.