Tourist Family starring Sasikumar, Simran in the lead is an upcoming Tamil movie that releases in theaters on May 1, 2025. Written and directed by debutant Abishan Jeevinth, Tourist Family is a joint production venture of Million Dollar Studios, and MRP Entertainment—banners that have given movies like Lover (2024), and Good Night (2023).
With a little more than a week left for Tourist Family's release, a trailer from the film dropped on Wednesday. The Tourist Family trailer reveals Sasikumar and Simran as parents of two sons, played by Mithun Jai Shankar, and child actor Kamalesh. It also shows that this Tamil speaking Sri Lankan family arrives illegally as refugees to India.
How this Sri Lankan refugee family hoodwinks the sea patrol, manage their survival in Tamil Nadu with a little help from Yogi Babu's character, and face challenges along the way is told through a tale of comedy, emotions, and Sri Lankan refugee plight. Tourist Family has Sean Roldan for music, Aravind Viswanathan for cinematography, and Barath Vikraman for edits.
History: Indian origin Tamils were taken to Sri Lanka under the British rule of India in the 19th and 20th centuries. They were considered 'outsiders' by both the Sinhalese, and the Sri Lankan native Tamils aka the Eelam Tamils, who centuries ago settled in Sri Lanka migrating from ancient Tamil Nadu.
Indian origin Tamils became 'stateless' in 1948 with Sri Lanka not providing them citizenship. Under two agreements signed between India, and Sri Lanka between in 1964, and 1974, over 6 lakhs of these people were supposed to get Indian citizenship. However the civil war in Sri Lanka from 1983 - 2009 meant this wasn't carried out as agreed.
In 2003, India provided citizenship to those who arrived before 1982. Indian origin Tamils who have arrived since 1983 fleeing war, the 2009 downfall of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and the recent economic crisis of Sri Lanka between 2022 and 2023, are not provided citizenship, and are instead termed 'Sri Lankan refugees'.
Incidentally, Tourist Family releases alongside the Suriya-Pooja Hegde starrer Retro, another Tamil film that also addresses the Sri Lankan refugee plight in parts (Retro writer, director Karthik Subbaraj has previously showcased the plight of Indian-origin Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka in his 2021 movie Jagame Thandhiram).