Mani Ratnam hid the death of a horse at Ponniyin Selvan film locale - Case booked

  

Mani Ratnam ,has been booked under the e Prevention of Cruelty to Animals  and so also the veterinarian   ( are per AWBI rules should have been present on the spot )  did not intimate any authority. The horse was given a quiet burial at the ground. After the whistleblower informed PETA and who informed AWBI, the carcass was dug out and send for post mortem. Aishwrya Rai Bachchan and Trisha, two PETA activists are part of the cast of the film. Aishwarya Rai had tweeted  photos herself astride a horse and elephant from film locales.  The film in the final stage of shooting in Gwalior had run into trouble with Jhansi police. 18 horses from Chennai were found in 5 mini lorries. They were taken by the police and kept in a field. After verifying with Mani Ratnam, Gwalior SP released the horses. The horses in Chennai are trained for film shooting and action directors can easily use them for action scenes. There was a action director called Horse Babu. Cover photo was of horses seized in Jhansi and kept in a field. Horses were used in Orchha shoot also

Trisha plays Chola Princess Kundhavai in this magnum opus, she plays Jayam Ravi's elder sister and Karthi's pair. Jayam Ravi essays the titular role of Ponniyin Selvan while Karthi plays Vandhiyathevan.

"In the age of computer-generated imagery (CGI), production companies have no excuse for forcing exhausted horses to play at war until one of them drops dead," said PETA India Chief Advocacy Officer Khushboo Gupta. AWBI wrote to the Hyderabad District Collector and the Telangana State Animal Welfare Board to conduct an inquiry into the death, a release from PETA said. PETA India has also offered a reward of Rs 25,000 for a video or photograph of the incident in which the horse died, which may help lead to the culprits’ arrests. Such evidence should be shared with PETA India at Info@petaindia.org.

"Compassionate, forward-thinking filmmakers would never dream of hauling sensitive animals to a chaotic movie set and forcing them to ‘act’. PETA India is calling on director Mani Ratnam to cut the cruelty and switch to modern and humane CGI and other visual-effects technology," the PETA release further said.

Earlier there was reports that Madras Talkies the production house owned by Mani Ratnam had shot most of the scenes in Philippines as the laws regarding use of animals are lax. All that was needed was an undertaking from the production house to AWBI under such circumstances was that it was CGI shots. As Covid 19 played havoc, the production company had to finish off the work in Ramoji Film City.