Director J Julian Prakash had already revealed that his upcoming film Ilami will revolve around the bull-fighting sport, Jallikattu. But what's interesting is that the director will be showing the lead actors — Yuvan and Anukrishna — playing a game of Vadam Jallikattu, a sport that was originally played around 300 years ago. "Vadam Jallikattu was the earliest form of Jallikattu that was played in Tamil Nadu. Here, the bull fighter and the bull will stand opposite each other and fight it out. But overtime, they changed the format of the game. But we wanted to bring it back on screen," says Julian.
So, what really prompted him to a film on this subject? "I grew up in Madurai. I have witnessed Jallikattu when I was a child. Even during my college days, we used to go as a gang to see the sport. It is unfortunate that we don't celebrate our own culture. Since this is my debut film, I wanted to take up a challenging subject and chose to tell the value of our history and culture through my film," he says. Ask him about the controversies surrounding Jallikattu and he says, "I haven't touched upon this controversy. Even if my film lands into some trouble, I am ready to face it."
