National Award-winning actor Suriya on Friday issued a statement expressing his happiness after the Supreme Court in their latest ruling upheld the amendments made by the Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Maharashtra governments to permit bull-taming sports of Jallikattu, Kambala, and bullock-cart racing. Taking to Twitter, the leading Tamil actor wrote, "Happy and proud to note the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s ruling, upholding #Jallikattu that’s integral to our Tamil culture & #Kambala to Kannada culture! Hearty congratulations to both State Governments and respect to all those who fought consistently against the ban. #JallikattuProtest" (sic).
Happy and proud to note the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s ruling, upholding #Jallikattu that’s integral to our Tamil culture & #Kambala to Kannada culture!
Hearty congratulations to both State Governments and respect to all those who fought consistently against the ban.…— Suriya Sivakumar (@Suriya_offl) May 19, 2023
A five-judge Constitution bench presided by Justices K M Joseph, Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy, and C T Ravikumar held that the state amendments did not violate the Constitution and the Supreme Court’s 2014 ruling banning Jallikattu. The bench also noted that in its 2014 judgment Jallikattu was conducted to attract restrictions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act due to the nature in which it was practiced at the time. Stating that Jallikattu is at least a century old, the Apex Court did not debate whether it holds an integral place in Tamil culture since an extensive analysis of the subject would be necessary. "We are satisfied on materials that Jallikattu is going in TN for last one century… Whether this is part of integral part of Tamil culture requires detailed analysis which exercise judiciary cannot undertake..," the court said. The bench further stated that the judiciary will not disregard the legislature's declaration of Jallikattu being a part of Tamil Nadu's cultural heritage. Furthermore, the court disagreed with the finding in the 2014 ruling about Jallikattu not being a part of the state's cultural heritage considering there was insufficient material to arrive at that conclusion.
On the work front, Suriya is currently filming the ambitious Kanguva under Siva's direction, with the film announced to release in theatres in 2024. The actor will then be heading off to join National Award-winning filmmaker Vetri Maaran for the highly-anticipated Vaadivaasal, which is set around the sport of Jallikattu and is based on acclaimed Tamil writer C.S. Chellappa's novel of the same name. A test shoot for Vaadivaasal was held last year much to the excitement of fans, with producer Kalaipuli S. Thanu also releasing a special glimpse on Suriya's birthday.
