Director Lokesh Kanagaraj took to his official X handle on Friday morning to share a press release from the 'friends and family' of actor Shriram Natarajan, who has been much in the news for his shocking posts on Instagram. The contents of this press release reads,
"Date: 18.04.2025
IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE
STATEMENT FROM FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF ACTOR SHRIRAM:
We would like to inform all well-wishers, friends, and members of the media that Actor Shriram is under expert medical care and is currently taking some time off from social media following his doctor's advice.
We kindly request everyone to respect his need for privacy as he focuses on his recovery and well-being. Speculation and misinformation can be extremely distressing, and we urge all media platforms both online and offline to refrain from spreading rumours or unverified updates about his health. We also appeal to media platforms to remove any objectionable content or interviews based on his current condition and to respect his personal space as he focuses on recovery.
We also do not endorse any views expressed by certain individuals in interviews and deny the same completely.
We thank you for your continued love, support, and understanding during this time!"
— Lokesh Kanagaraj (@Dir_Lokesh) April 18, 2025
The press release comes at a time when Maanagaram, Irugapattru producer SR Prabhu has come under scrutiny of non payment of remuneration to Shriram Natarajan, for the latter movie. In 2024, actor Shri took to his Instagram page to accuse Irugapatru (2023) filmmakers of not filing his TDS of Rs. 30, 000.
"Genuinely concerned about the health & well being of actor #Shri" - #Maanagaram, #Irugapatru producer SR Prabhuhttps://t.co/I5giy06ICS
— MovieCrow (@MovieCrow) April 14, 2025
However actor Shri's Instagram posts suggest they were made from a place of extreme distress and/or not a stable mental health condition. Things got worse when a family member of actor Shri's started giving interviews accusing producer SR Prabhu of re-directing scripts from Shri-introduced debut directors to other actors, leading to 'mental distress' and 'schizophrenia' in the actor.