Culture & Community

Culture & Community

Latest news from and about the homeland

Following his recent hit, 2023’s ‘Mark Antony,’ Adhik Ravichandran returns to the screen having teamed up with his idol Ajith Kumar for ‘Good Bad Ugly.’ Fanboy cinema has yielded interesting results for the industry recently: Karthik Subbaraj collaborated with Rajinikanth for 2019’s ‘Petta’ and Lokesh Kanagaraj worked with his idol Kamal Haasan for 2022’s ‘Vikram.’ These films are primarily…

Another Tamil doctor dies from coronavirus in UK as infections rise

Tributes have flooded in this week as yet another Tamil doctor passed away from coronavirus in the UK this week, as coronavirus infections rise across the country.

Dr Krishnan Subramanian, a Consultant Anaesthetist at Royal Derby Hospital, passed away on Thursday after contracting coronavirus. Dr Subramaniam joined the trust in 2014 as a Consultant Anaesthetist and was a well loved member of the medical team.

Deepa Mehta's Funny Boy faces calls for a boycott as criticism mounts

Deepa Mehta's 'Funny Boy' is facing calls for a boycott as criticism mounts over the lack of Tamil representation in the film and Mehta's links to the Rajapaksa regime. 

The film, which is based on the 1994 novel written by Shyam Selvadurai, follows a queer Tamil boy in the years leading up to the 1983 anti-Tamil pogroms in Colombo, when thousands of Tamils were killed by Sinhala mobs backed by the then UNP government and state forces.

We did not come from fire, we were born in it' - In Conversation with Shan Vincent de Paul

Photograph by Gajan Bala 

Shan Vincent de Paul who goes by the moniker SVDP, is a Toronto-based Tamil rapper and director. His debut album "Saviors" was released in 2016, followed by his sophomore album "Trigger Happy Heartbreak" in 2017. Shan has released a song from his upcoming album "Made in Jaffna" - titled "One Hundred Thousand Flowers".

Pandara Vanniyan - 'Last King of Vanni' - remembered in the Tamil homeland

The 217th victory day of Pandara Vanniyan, the last sovereign of the Vanni chieftaincy was commemorated last month with fanfare across the Tamil homeland in the North-East. 

Proceedings began early morning in Vavuniya in the presence of Urban Council Chairman E. Gowthaman who also organised the event last month. 

A militarised festival in Jaffna as Nallur Thiruvizha gets underway

Sri Lankan troops have been deployed at the Nallur Kandasamy Temple in Jaffna this week, as the temple’s annual festival – thiruvizha – began last month.

Observing Aadi Amavaasai

The new moon in Aadi (July) is one of the three most powerful new moons of the year. Devotees honour their ancestors by observing fasts, feeding crows and bathing in large bodies of natural water to rid themselves of their sins.

Annual Nainativu Nagapooshani Amman Temple chariot festival held

The annual Nainativu Nagapooshani Amman Temple ‘Ther’ was held on Friday. The historic temple festival was celebrated in its traditionally spectacular fashion with the day commencing with the “Vasantha Mandapam Pooja” at 7am, followed by the chariot being transported to offer blessings to the devotees. 

Thanthondreeswarar temple hunting festival held in Mullaitivu

The historic Oddusuddan Thanthondreeswarar temple hunting festival (Vettai thiruvizha) was held in Mullaitivu on Wednesday to conclude the temple's annual Thiruvizha.

Human Rights Solidarity speak on Tamil refugees

Human Rights Solidarity commemorated refugee week and world refugee day by speaking to Gayathri Thivyaa, a medical student at Imperial College London and the child of Tamil refugees who fled the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Tamil Canadian community worker dies after stopping to help at highway crash

Tributes have poured from across the Tamil Canadian community for 52-year-old Surendran Thambirajah, who passed away earlier this month after he stopped to help another driver who had crashed their car in     Ontario.

Thambirajah had stopped at the scene of a crash to offer his assistance, after another vehicle has crashed into a hydro pole. He passed away after being struck by a downed wire.