Manikandan's National Award Medals Returned By Thieves With Apology Note: 'Sir Please Forgive Us...'

A few days ago, director Manikandan was robbed. The theft took place at his Usilampatti residence in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. However, in an interesting turn of events, the thieves returned his National Award with an apology note. The note has now gone viral online.

While Manikandan lives in Chennai with his family, his pet dog stays at his Usilampatti residence and the director’s two friends frequent the house to feed it. When they visited the house recently, they realised that the doors of the house had been tampered with. They also noticed that several valuables items were missing from the house, as per reports.

According to reports, a case was filed with the Usilampatti Police. The director’s friends noted that Rs. 1 lakh in cash, 15 sovereigns of gold jewellery, and other items were missing from the residence.

However, when the police were investigating the premises, they found a plastic bag hanging from the compound wall, containing Manikandan’s National Award medal and an apology note. “Sir, please forgive us, we are returning your hard work’s pay,” the note read.

Photos of the medal with the note have gone viral online. Meanwhile, the cash amount and the gold jewellery are yet to be recovered.

Manikandan is a two-time National Award winner. His directorial debut film Kaaka Muttai (2014) won the National Award in the Best Children’s Film category. Actors Ramesh and Vignesh also won in the Best Child Artist category. His last film, Kadaisi Vivasayi (2023), won the National Award in the Best Feature Film (in Tamil) category.

The filmmaker has also given critically films like Kuttrame Thandanai and Aandavan Kattalai. The acclaimed director is now working with Vijay Sethupathi for a project for Disney+Hotstar. The details of the project have not been revealed yet. Stay tuned here for updates on the robbery at the director’s residence.