Chennai: The Lanka issue is not just confined to the political landscape of Tamil Nadu. It also culturally ties in with notions of Tamil pride especially because in Tamil Nadu, the very assertion of Tamil culture was a markedly political one.
So, when Sarath Kumar organised a protest of the Tamil Nadu Cine Film Federation, every single star of the film industry was there to focus attention on the Tamil Sri Lankans.
An even more dramatic show of protest was against the detention of film director Seeman under the National Security Act for his open support to LTTE in a public meeting in Tirunelveli. And then this week, filmmaker Bharti Raja returned his Padma Shri as a token of support to the Lankan Tamils.
It also underlined the intrinsic link between Tamil Nadu's politics and its films. And also of how the wider notion of Dravidian identity, a culture is fuelled by its cinema.
There is also a commercial dimension. The Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora is one of the biggest overseas distributors of Tamil films.
"There is a linguistic and cultural bond at the core. In terms of commercial value also, if our films have gone across the world, it is because of the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora. They have supported the industry. Their entertainment comes from Tamil Nadu," says Sarath Kumar, President, All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi President.
It is not surprising how the Sri Lankan issue is a recurring motif in films.
For instance, 'Cyanide' is a documentary by A Ramesh. He calls it a docu drama on the Rajiv Gandhi assassination plot.
"They all watched and hugged me. So many filmmakers saw it and told how can a Kannadiga make a film on Tamilians like this," he says.
The film condemns violence, but empathetically looks at the assassins' psyche.
"I had screening with the press the first show in a theatre with 100-1200 capacity. Without my knowledge about 10 LTTE sympathisers are watching the film and that film was recorded and it has gone to Sri Lanka. So much of network for them. This movie has gone to Killinochi and I get a call from there to tell that you have used two wrong words by telling that Shivrasan accepted that he killed Rajiv Gandhi was wrong. And I told yes, he has told to Ranganath that we have made a mistake by killing Rajiv Gandhi. And I told them that if you want you ask Ranganath and then told okay don't remove that one. And one more word to delete that word. I asked which one is that. In that I have told that we won't steal, we will capture the war. They said don't use stealing. LTTE has got a top leader for each and every wing and art and culture wing head Chiru called me," says A Ramesh.
When asked: "You also sometimes get a call from Prabhakaran himself?"
A Ramesh replied, "I didn't get, but I got a message from him - 'I liked the film very much.'"
But it is not just the world of cinema, but Tamil culture and literature also resonate with the sympathy for the LTTE.
Father Gasper as he's known is one such example.
Along with Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi he runs Chennai Sangamam and a magazine called Tamil Maiyam. Some also call him an informal ideologue of the DMK. In the past, he was accused of having links with the LTTE.
"Tamils as a community, which lived very proudly, they were not very rich people but very hardworking, who valued self dignity and righteousness, they have been reduced to a community of beggars, at least 200,000 to 300,000 of them. Some of us believed, if not liked it that the LTTE and its means, their military power is the only balance Tamils have to ensure their political rights. Now the LTTE is destroyed militarily. Go back to the history, and you will see it was India that invited all these young people and armed them. Let's be upfront, honest. Geopolitics in play. Indo-Pak war, SL stood with Pakistan by providing re-fuelling facilities. During the Indo-China war SL stood with China not India. Jayevardhane, it was during the Cold war, he was taking a blatantly open stand against India. And we all know the politics of the Indian Ocean, big powers were getting involved. India was worried. India was the one invited all these guys and gave them weapons. I found state terrorism as more violent, structured and intended against Tamils. I made it an option; it was a choice to not condemn the LTTE because no one was condemning the Sri Lankan government," says Reverend Father Jegath Gaspar Raj, Co-Founder, Chennai Sangamam.
As the interview ends, he slips into the same popular <I>Bhartiya</I> song. <I>Bharatiya</I> song - with notes of a sub-Tamil nationalism, the dream of a bridge on the setu.