Kasthuri Shankar: In the line of fire Premium

Kasthuri Shankar's controversial remarks on DMK's origins spark debate, leading to her arrest and widespread criticism.

Actor Kasthuri Shankar, who came out on a conditional bail from Puzhal prison on November 21, is one such celebrity-talking head currently in the news over controversial remarks. She was picked up by the police in Hyderabad for making a loaded, controversial comment about the ‘Telugu’ origins of the Tamil Nadu ruling party DMK’s first family.

With this arrest, Ms. Kasthuri joins a growing list of anti-DMK voices to have been arrested for making unpalatable comments about the ruling dispensation.

She made these remarks at a protest organised by the Indu Makkal Katchi, a right-wing Hindu nationalist party, led by Arjun Sampath. The protest was called demanding that a law akin to the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1952, (PCR Act) to protect Brahmins from slander and defamatory comments on their caste identity from certain political sections be enacted.

While comparing slander of Brahmin sensitivities and identity to the expulsion of Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir in the early 1990s, Ms. Kasthuri said Brahmins could not be called ‘outsiders’ by ‘Telugu speaking people’, who came to Tamil Nadu along with Telugu kings to take care of the needs of their harems.

She encountered widespread criticism for her comments, prompting her to clarify that she didn’t cast aspersions on Telugu speakers as a whole. After coming out of the prison, Ms. Kasthuri thanked those critics for transforming ‘a small voice like hers into a raging cyclone’.

Having returned to India in 2017 from the U.S., where she was living with her husband, Ms. Kasthuri, known for her spunky choice of films such as Amaidi Padai, Indian and Thamizh Padam, has been one of those celebrities who became ubiquitous on television, YouTube and social media, often opining on diverse topics — be it the language divide in India, the NEET controversy, federalism, MeToo or Tamil nationalism.

An avid quizzer and a former Miss Chennai, Ms. Kasthuri, who has acted in more than 50 films in multiple languages, emerged as an celebrity commentator as an eco-system of politically aligned social media personalities mushroomed.