Every since it was revealed that actress Dhanya Balakrishna is part of the upcoming Tamil movie Lal Salaam directed by Aishwarya Rajinikanth and starring Rajinikanth in a special appearance, a section of the Tamil internet dug up a 12 year old social media post of Dhanya's, and have been expressing dismay over her casting.  

Back in 2011-2012, Dhanya Balakrishna was a rising face in the Tamil film industry having made memorable appearances in movies like 7aum Arivu (2011) and Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi (2012). During this time, the then youngster's name was linked with a high profile controversy over two posts on Facebook. The same year Indian Premier League shocked the nation with its spot-fixing cases, Dhanya Balakrishna was being reprimanded by Kannada film producer Ha Cha Sathayanna for adding to the always tense Tamil-Kannadiga relations.

21 year old Dhanya Balakrishna's posts in 2012 are said to have read, 

"Dear Chennai, you beg for water we give! You beg for electricity, we give! ur people come and occupy our beautiful city and kocha paduthify it, we allow and nw u wr at our mercy to go to playoffs, n we let be!! Like this you begging we giving! Dai ungalukku vekkame illaya da??"

 

 "I am withdrawing from the films that I have accepted and I will not come back," 

 

While there is no clarity on whether these statements were owned or denied back in 2012, Dhanya Balakrishna did continue to appear in Tamil productions like Neethaane En Ponvasantham (2012), Raja Rani (2013), and Carbon (2022) since these posts. She has also since married Tamil director Balaji Mohan who is known for movies like Vaayai Moodi Pesavum (2014), Maari (2015), Maari 2 (2018), and with whom Dhanya had worked with in Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi pre-controversy. 

The growing social media derision of Dhanya Balakrishna has now made the actress come out and issue a statement in 2024. In it, she denies the Facebook posts were made by her and that she had denied it 12 years before as well. Dhanya Balakrishna also claims that the posts were the work of some troll in 2012 who faked a screenshot using her name. Dhanya Balakrisha also apologizes to the Tamil people in her statement, because of her name being attached to this controversy for over 12 years now. 

"I swear on my profession that puts food on my table that the statement that is circulating now was not made by me and it is not my opinion. I had clarified it 12 years ago when it happened and I am saying it even today. It was a screenshot created by a troll. But I have nothing in my power to prove to you all that it was not me. The reason for my silence for 12 years was only because I was receiving a lot of threats and hate towards me & my family and protecting them was my priority.

Now i want to take the opportunity to clarity that the alleged statement was not made by me. I started my career in Tamil cinema and I'm always grateful that I got the privilege to work here. Most of my friends are also Tamil and I would never even think of making such a remark even as a joke. Tamil audience were my first audience and your love gave me the courage and hope to work for many years. As a human being and as a woman I would never have such an intention to say or do anything to hurt anybody. I have done Tamil films like "Raja rani", "Neethane En Pon Vasantham" & "Carbon" and 3 tamil web series after the incident happened but nowhere such a back clash was faced.

Although the statement was not my words, unfortunately to my bad luck my name has been associated to it. So I would like to extend my sincere unconditional apology to the Tamil people for the hurt that has been caused.

I also deeply apologize to Rajinikanth sir, Aishwarya Rajinikanth malam and Rajini sir's fans for the inconvenience and hurt caused by this issue.

I am powerless and helpless at this point and I only hope you have the heart to see the truth in this. 

Sincerely,
Dhanya Balakrishna"