Cineplex Entertainment says the remaining screening of the Tamil movie 'Theri' has been cancelled in the Greater Toronto Area.
A Tamil film has been yanked from Toronto-area theatres after moviegoers were exposed to a pepper spray-like chemical at three separate screenings last week, prompting a police investigation.
But Tamil film buffs are urging Cineplex Inc. to resume screenings of the India-produced action flick, Theri, saying they don't feel targeted or unsafe.
"We believe management is overreacting a little bit," said David Poopalapillai, the spokesman for the Canadian Tamil Congress.
"A handful of antisocial elements are behind this. I think they could harm anybody, not only any particular community."
Cineplex cancelled all future screenings of Theri after having to evacuate three theatres in Brampton, Mississauga and Scarborough last Friday.
Spokeswoman Sarah Van Lange said the incidents are believed to be linked as they took place at screenings at the same time – about 7:20 p.m. In each case, only a single auditorium was filled with the "noxious substance," but Cineplex evacuated the entire complex in an "abundance of caution."
The company is taking precautionary measures, said Ms. Van Lange, but she declined to comment further on the situation since it's an active police investigation. She declined to explain why the company believed it was necessary to cancel Theri screenings.
Theri wasn't playing in all the auditoriums affected, said spokesman for Peel Regional Police, which is investigating the Mississauga and Brampton incidents. One of those two incidents happened during the screening of another movie, not Theri, said Constable Mark Fischer.
He said he couldn't explain how the substance had been released, and he said he had no information to suggest there had been an explanation or threat left by the perpetrators.
Police said theatre patrons were treated by paramedics at the scene and required no further medical assistance.
Some critics described Theri as a "revenge drama." It tells the story of a policeman who, after his wife is killed by a gang leader, fakes his own death and returns to "haunt" the gang members, killing them one by one. It has been doing well at the box office.
"It's a very regular, normal movie," said Mr. Poopalapillai. "It's a typical Tamil movie. It's nothing controversial."
For Tamil-speaking Torontonians, being able to go to a mainstream theatre and watch a movie in their own language is a "very pleasurable thing," he said.
The local Tamil community struggled with various kinds of violence during the civil war in Sri Lanka, including violence between local Tamil gangs. But Mr. Poopalipillai said he doesn't feel worried that the movie incidents are a sign of bigger threats.
"Those days are gone," he said.
"We, as a community, we treat this as a kind of isolated incident."