Parasakthi starring Sivakarthikeyan as hero, and Ravi Mohan as the villain is a historical Tamil action that released in theaters on January 10, 2026 (Saturday). The movie written and directed by National award winning filmmaker Sudha Kongara had its own share of tumult both politically, and censor wise, due to the 1965 anti Hindi agitations of Tamil Nadu the movie is based on. Speaking about the same, the Parasakthi director has stated in the media,
"Only four days before the film's release did the revising committee (the group of people who second-examine a movie for censor certification in India) watch Parasakthi. In Parasakthi, I had kept scenes that could potentially be cut to a bare minimum, so the fear I had was that if the film had to be cut (further) it could only get banned. The thought and the ideology, are you going to ban or you believe this is a democracy and allow my film?
The CBFC (Central Board of Film Certification) in India were democratic, they allowed my film (to get certified and release). They did ask me a lot of questions, including whether I was looking to stir (contradictory emotions) by bringing back what happened in history.
My answer to him was, 'Sir we should be able to learn from history. Somethings like (Pollachi) genocide, if it happens, it shouldn't happen again. That is why I'm talking about it. You're taking a Dhurandhar (2026) preaching to nuke Pakistan, we are talking so many films about the 1947 freedom (from the British), the movies are not made with the intention to trigger negative emotions towards them.
The Kashmir Files (2022) has also been made. Why was that film made? Because a genocide happened 100% and you've made a movie to showcase it. Do you take that movie with the intention of two religious factions fighting? No. This happened in history, people should know, and it shouldn't happen again (is why the film is taken)'. I had to speak all this, argue that Parasakthi is a pacifist film, and convince them. And it (Parasakthi) passed (the CBFC certification)."
At a time when India's opposition party, the Indian National Congress (INC) has called for a ban on Parasakthi citing historical inaccuracies, which Sudha Kongara has debunked, the BJP-governed center has been spotted getting friendly with team Parasakthi despite the CBFC fiasco, and Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, BJP's ideological opponent being associated with Parasakthi as the film's Tamil Nadu distributor. [The anti-Hindi agitations in Tamil Nadu was at one point also spearheaded by DMK founder CN Annadurai who gets a special highlight in the movie Parasakthi].
Actors Sivakarthikeyan and Ravi Mohan who play lead 'Chezhiyan' and antagonist 'Thirunaadan' in Parasakthi, were invited to Union Minister L. Murugan’s residence today, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the Pongal celebrations. Notably, L Murugan serves as the Minister for State for I&B, under Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting (I&B), Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, and the I&B ministry oversees the CBFC department.
On meeting the Prime Minister, Sivakarthikeyan who had attended the event with wife Aarti stated, "For the first time, I got an opportunity to celebrate Pongal here in New Delhi. Minister L Muruguan had invited all of us, saying that we should see how people here celebrate our (Tamil) culture. GV Prakash's Thiruvasakam song performance* was very good, dance master Kala's team performed Bharatanatyam which was also good. Was very happy celebrating our culture here. For the first time, I got to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it was also an unforgettable moment for me."
*National award winning music composer GV Prakash Kumar, who has also scored for Parasakthi, performed a special rendition at Union Minister L. Murugan’s residence on January 14, 2026 (Wednesday).
Music composer GV Prakash, who also scored the music for Parasakthi, presented a special song at Union MoS L. Murugan’s residence today, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the Pongal celebrations pic.twitter.com/ekaQzM3Lk2
— Vasudha Venugopal (@Vasudha156) January 14, 2026
On the controversies surrounding his 25th film Parasakthi, Sivakarthikeyan said, "People are understanding Parasakthi and taking it in the right way, and what we intended is reaching the people. If they watch the film completely, they will understand. There is no propaganda (in the film). I don't have any propaganda also. Maybe if Congress watches the film the second time, they will understand it even better. All of us are brothers, and we are not trying to say anything extra also".
Ravi Mohan at the same event was hit with a harder question of Parasakthi being pro-DMK and anti-Hindu (i). The Tamil star actor in his composed demeanour answered, "See I go to Sabarimala (home to a Hindu Sastha Temple, dedicated to Lord Ayyappa). Because there is no differentiation there based on caste, or religion. Cinema is also for me like a temple. In a cinema theater, there is no colour, creed, religion, caste, politics, anything. So let cinema be cinema. Let's keep everything out of it".