Director Pa. Ranjith attributes casteism to Anitha's suicide over NEET

The directors of the Tamil film fraternity recently gathered to pay homage to Anitha, a 17 year old who hanged herself over not being able to acquire a medical seat due to her NEET scores. During the interaction filmmaker Pa. Ranjith who is known for directing films like Madras, Kabaliand the upcoming Kaala, went into an outburst frenzy over the casteism in Tamil Nadu. He said that casteism still exists within the state, so much so that the rural and town areas still function with a separate area and street for those belonging to the Dalit caste, including himself. He insisted that its high time people accept that the people of Tamil Nadu are separated due to casteism.

Ranjith went on to say that gatherings should have been held against atrocities like honour-killing but since that wasn't done, people should wake-up to the differentiation's due to casteism atleast during the unfortunate loss of Anitha. When Ranjith gave an example of how people from his place of stay still decide what his "level" is, director Ameer who had been trying to calm Ranjith throughout his speech replied that Ranjith should ignore such people and rise above them. Director Ram who was also present at the stage sided with Ranjith but director Ameer pointed out that such heated outbursts could be mis-interpreted and could instill wrong thoughts in the 5% people who have risen above the whole caste differentiation.