Tamil actor Nayanthara shared an open letter to fellow actor Dhanush K Raja on Saturday, November 16. The two have worked together in many films, but the contents of the letter suggested that they did not share a healthy professional relationship, let alone a friendship. In the letter, Nayanthara accused Dhanush of being jealous of those who rise to the top on their own merits and have no connection with the industry. She also called him a “tyrant” and a small-hearted person and claimed he had a “personal vendetta” against her and her partner, director Vignesh Shivan.

But what is the real deal? Why did he do it Nayanthara goes public with her allegations against Dhanush? When did it all start?

The letter, which was shared on the official Instagram handle of the ‘lady superstar’ of Tamil cinema, included many references to the fact that Nayanthara-Dhanush’s differences are not new but have been brewing for a long time. Also, the final nail in the coffin seemed to be Dhanush’s alleged decision to withhold content from the 2015 film Naanum Rowdy Dhaan, which Nayanthara wanted to feature in her upcoming Netflix documentary titled, Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairytale.

According to her letter, she and her team ran from pillar to post and engaged in several conversations over the years with Dhanush’s team to get an NOC (no objection certificate) to use some parts of the film of comedy in her documentary.

Nayanthara: Beyond the fairy tale

The series offers a glimpse into the actor’s famous life, her journey to stardom and her life and career choices. Nayanthara mentioned that the film played a crucial role in shaping her career and hence when Dhanush did not allow the actual content to be used in her documentary, they shot something related to the film as BTS (behind the scenes). ) with own equipment. This led to a legal notice from Dhanush.

Nayanthara explained in her post, “What’s even more shocking is your legal notice after the Netflix documentary trailer was released. We were surprised to read those lines where you questioned the use of videos (only three seconds) that were shot on our personal devices and also BTS images that are already very public on social media and claimed a amount of 10 million lei as damages for just 3 seconds. This is a minimum of you and speaks so much about your character I wish you were half the person you portray to be on stage at the audio launches in front of your innocent fans but you clearly don’t practice what you preaches, at least not to me and my partner (sic).”

The actor also claimed that Dhanush is a hypocrite who talks about love, positivity and maintaining friendships at his film events but acts the exact opposite in real life. She told the actor to take off the “mask” he was wearing “for the crowd”.

“It’s been almost 10 years since the movie came out and that’s a long time for someone to continue to be this badass while wearing a mask to the world. I haven’t forgotten all the horrible things you said about the movie which was one of your biggest hits as a producer and a movie that is loved by all even today (sic),” she explained in her post.

Nayanthara vs Dhanush: Where did it all start?

It is important to note that the film Nayanthara is talking about occupies a crucial place her and her husband’s lives. On the sets of Naanum Rowdy Dhaan the two fell in love. While Vignesh was the director, Nayanthara was the lead actor opposite Vijay Sethupathi. There were speculations that Vignesh went over the film’s budget, angering producer Dhanush, who later predicted that the film would be doomed. However, it has become a profitable business for distributors.

This is the same incident that Nayanthara briefly mentioned in her note: “The words you spoke before the release have already left us with some irreparable scars. I learned through film circles that your ego was extremely bruised after the film became a blockbuster. the dissatisfaction with its success was perceptible even to the common man through the award function related to this film (Filmfare 2016) (sic).”

It is clear from Nayanthara’s post that her allegations were not simply projecting her disappointment with a man she had collaborated with in the past, but reflected her feelings of being disrespected by her co-star, producer and co-worker, both personally, as well as professional.

While Nayanthara has received a lot of support from her industry colleagues including Parvathy Thiruvothu, Shruti Haasan, Ekta Kapoor, Dia Mirza and Nazriya Nazim among others, Dhanush and his team are yet to respond to the letter.