The Family Man 2, sequel to a popular Indian Hindi-language web series, has attracted controversy for its negative portrayal of Tamil people and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). 

Actor Samantha Akkineni has particularly drawn the ire of Tamil netizens as she is seen in the trailer playing an LTTE fighter portrayed as an extremist.

Will North Indians allow a movie or a tv series where we portray Marathi Shivaji as a man who terrorised and raided towns under British rule. Would you keep your mouth shut if we projected the independence movement as a terrorist movement.?#FamilyMan2_against_Tamils

— கொந்தகை சூரிய பிரகாஷ் (@SuriyaP88985115) May 20, 2021

The series follows the life and exploits of a National Investigation Agency (NIA) official, the Indian government’s intelligence service. 

The first edition of the series, which is streaming on Amazon Prime, shows the lead character tracing sympathisers of ISIS in India. Although it became popular, it drew flak for its negative portrayal of Muslims in the country. 

The second season is set largely in Chennai and features Samantha playing a purported LTTE cadre. 

A dialogue in the trailer says, “Our intel suggests there is an unexpected coalition between ISI and rebels.” This has caused deep resentment amongst Tamils who believe this is an attempt to smear Tamils just as the series tarnished the Muslim community in its first season. 

#FamilyMan2_against_Tamils pic.twitter.com/GwfZmTGaEk

— Mr.பழுவேட்டரையர் (@mrpaluvets) May 20, 2021

Actor Samantha, who is not an ethnic Tamil, first became popular in Kollywood and attained fame through Tamil cinema. This has led some Tamils to accuse her of betraying the people that made her popular. 

Raji, the character Samantha plays in the web series, says donning combat fatigues, “I will kill them all.” Not only has this aroused anger amongst Tamils who say the series disregards decades of Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinism that pushed Tamils towards militancy, but it also demonstrated that the makers had little knowledge of Tamil language before shooting the Tamil parts. Samantha had also stated in an interview that she relished playing the role of a 'bad' person.

Native Tamil speakers noticed that the dialogue bore little resemblance to the language as it is spoken in real life. Similar concerns were also raised during the release of the 2020 movie Funny Boy, set against the backdrop of the 1983 Black July riots, in which supposedly Tamil characters spoke broken Tamil. 

It’s a Hindi series where an episode is portraying the Tigers as a threat to Indian nationality. The Eelam Tamil accent used to dub Samantha is Leave Eelam Tamils alone.

— Roshni_Raveenthiran (@Roshni_Raveen) May 19, 2021

The hashtag #FamilyMan2_against_Tamils went viral on social media yesterday and was amongst the top trending hashtags in India with Tamils venting their anger against the web series and urging viewers to unsubscribe to the Amazon Prime platform. Neither the makers nor the actors have responded to the concerns. See some of the tweets below.

Tamil people’s are not extremists, we love peace 

Don’t project us as extremists
#FamilyMan2_against_Tamils pic.twitter.com/2xbSMvniy5

— அதியன் கார்த்திᵀᴬᴹᴵᴸ ᴺᴬᵀᴵᴼᴺᴬᴸᴵˢᵀ (@athiyankarthi) May 19, 2021

Shame on Samantha. That too she brought up in Chennai and she knows about genocide and reason for Srilankan Tamils war. For money she have acted in shameless script #FamilyMan2_against_Tamils #ShameOnSamantha

— Selvadas (@Selvada69222940) May 20, 2021