Kollywood 2017: From Mersal to 'Suchi leaks', here is the list of controversies that shocked Tamil audience

Like every year, Kollywood has its share of controversies in 2017 as well. From 'Suchi leaks' to Mersal, there were many incidents that left the Tamil audience in shock. Here, we are listing out some of the major controversies of the year:

Suchi leaks
The controversy broke in February when Dhanush and Simbu were accused of assaulting singer and RJ Suchitra Karthik and a few photos were also released to justify her claims. Initially, people ignored the issue believing that it was yet another case of an account of a celebrity being hacked.

Her husband Karthik then claimed that her account had been hacked and was later retrieved, but what followed shocked the entire industry. The tweets opened a can of worms with scandalous allegations being made on celebrities, Dhanush being the prime target. It was infamously referred to as 'Suchi leaks' as shocking malicious images, videos were leaked. 

Sathyaraj's old anti-Kannada speech returns to haunt him
Sathyaraj had made a speech against Kannadigas during a Cauvery protest organised by Nadigar Sangam in 2008. He had apparently mocked Karnataka and pro-Kannada activist Vatal Nagaraj. The video of his speech surfaced during the release of Baahubali and pro-Kannada groups demanded a ban on the film until the actor apologises for the comments that he made many years ago. Bowing down to their demands, the actor apologised and Baahubali 2 had a hassle-free release.

Bigg Boss Tamil
Kamal Haasan's Bigg Boss Tamil courted a few controversies. Hindu Makkal Katchi had filed a case claiming that the show was anti-Hindu. According to the organisation, Vijay TV show was not encouraging family culture and the dress worn by some of the inmates were objectionable. Later, a comment made by contestant Gayathri on her fellow inmate Julie aka Juliana had landed in a major controversy.

Raising objections to the comment 'Cheri' (slum) made by Gayathri against Julie, the founder and president of Puthiya Tamilagam, K Krishnaswamy, filed Kamal Haasan and Vijay TV a Rs 100-crore defamation case.

Vijay fans abuse online a woman journo 
Actor Vijay fans vented out anger at an online woman journalist for sharing negative comments about their icon. They went to an extent of dragging her family members and trolled badly. After receiving over 75,000 abusive tweets in a span of 72 hours, she filed a complaint with Chennai Police under sections of Indian Penal Code, Information Technology Act, Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Woman Harassment Act and Indecent Representation of Women Act. Finally, the Ilayathalapathy was forced to give a statement to fans to respect criticism.

Kamal Haasan's Comment on Hindu Extremism
In his weekly column in a Tamil magazine, the Ulaganayagan said people can no longer deny the existence of Hindu extremism. "Earlier, Hindu rightists used have just intellectual debates with those of differing views through which they provoked their opponents to violence. With the approach failing to yield desired result, people have resorted to violence. The extremism has now spread among the Hindus as well," Kamal Haasan wrote in Ananda Vikatan.

Amala Paul's 'tax-evading' case
Amala Paul landed in a controversy for allegedly evading 20 percent tax when she bought her Mercedes-Benz S Class in Puducherry in August. The car was purchased with a fake document that claimed her to be residing in a rented room in a building in Puducherry. It came to the cops' notice when they found out that multiple people have produced the same address for registering their car. It has to be noted that Malayalam actor Fahaad Faasil was also caught in a similar case. 

Mersal
Vijay's Mersal made some critical comments on GST, digital money and demonetisation. This did not go well with the Tamil Nadu BJP, which demanded the removal of the scenes.  The issue became a national news as it was an attempt to curtail the freedom of speech. 

Simbu AAA
Silambarasan was centre of the controversy when Michael Rayappan, the producer of his AAA, mounted allegations of unprofessional behaviour against him. The producer had alleged that Simbu never co-operated with them and kept delaying the shoots for one or the other reason. Due to his unprofessional behaviour, the producer lost crores of rupees and today he is bankrupt.