Tamil actor Karthi Sivakumar has found himself in the middle of controversy after saying that he “does not know caste” because he grew up in Chennai. He made the remarks at a press conference on Thursday, November 2, while promoting his upcoming film Japan. Karthi was responding to a question about his film Madras (2014), which was directed by anti-caste filmmaker Pa Ranjith. 

Karthi said, “I grew up in Madras (Chennai) so I do not know caste. Those who grew up in Madras do not know caste. We only know our names. We do not see anything beyond our names. My most favourite part of the story [of the film Madras] was the wall. For me, the politics around the wall resembled world cinema and that is all I saw. I could see only the characters [in Madras]. I never saw it as a film on caste. I don’t think caste is present in the film.” The actor went on to add that he was never raised to see caste differences among anyone and that is what he practises.

Several users on social media criticised his remarks, especially since they were about a film made by a vocal anti-caste filmmaker. People also began pulling up speeches of Karthi’s father Sivakumar who claimed that former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had ‘instructed’ Karthi to marry within his caste since his brother actor Suriya had a love marriage. A snippet of the speech by Sivakumar said, “Karthi, my daughter, and I went to the CM’s house. What a mother she [Jayalalithaa] was! Is one a mother only if she gives birth to you? She said that it's okay that there has been a love marriage in the house, we cannot do anything about it, it has been accepted. At least you [Karthi] marry someone in your caste like your mother would have wished. What was the need for her to say something like that?” Sivakumar and his family belong to the dominant Gounder caste (classified as Backward Class). 

Watch: Sivakumar’s speech about Karthi’s marriage

One user on X (formerly Twitter) pointed out that there are several streets in Chennai named after castes and listed them.

Another pointed out how Karthi should not be making statements like this after his father boasted about getting him married to someone within their own caste. She said, “I love Karthi but he should be the last one saying this. His dad literally boasted about getting Karthi married to a girl within their caste.”