For actress R. Sukanya, 1996 was supposed to be another triumphant year. She was the reigning queen of South Indian cinema, having just delivered hits with legends like Kamal Haasan and Mohanlal . But in April of that year, a single television broadcast changed the course of her life forever.
An interview with the infamous forest brigand Veerappan, aired by Sun TV, contained lurid and unsubstantiated allegations linking the actress to the son of the then-Prime Minister .
The allegations didn’t hold up in a court of law—but in the court of public opinion, they destroyed a career.
The Interview That Changed Everything
On April 17, 1996, Sun TV broadcast an interview with the notorious sandalwood smuggler conducted by journalist Nakkheeran Gopal . The broadcast drew massive ratings. During the conversation, Veerappan claimed that Sukanya was in a relationship with the son of former Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao, and that video evidence of this was used for political blackmail ahead of the 1996 general elections .
The actress was watching the show at home. “The allegation was offensive to my dignity,” she later told the court, stating that it lowered her image among friends, family, and the general public .
A Meteoric Rise Cut Short
Sukanya had been on a dream run. Making her debut in 1991 in Bharathiraja’s Pudhu Nellu Pudhu Naathu, she quickly became one of the busiest stars in the industry .
The very next year, she won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actress for Chinna Gounder and simultaneously debuted in Malayalam, Telugu, and Kannada films . She shared screen space with the biggest names: Kamal Haasan in Mahanadhi and Indian, Mohanlal in Chandralekha, Mammootty, Vijayakanth, and Sathyaraj .
Career Nosedive
The effect of the Veerappan interview was immediate and brutal. Following the broadcast, Sukanya’s career “evidently nosedived” . She was no longer cast as the female lead alongside A-listers.
“She claimed that the controversy had a negative impact on both her professional and personal life,” court records note .
Though she attempted a comeback later, she was relegated to smaller projects. The big-banner opportunities dried up overnight.
A 30-Year Legal Battle for Justice
Refusing to let her name be dragged through the mud, Sukanya filed a defamation suit in 1996 against Sun TV, the interviewer, and Veerappan. It would take three decades to get a final verdict .
On June 5, 2026, nearly 30 years after the broadcast, Justice K. Kumaresh Babu of the Madras High Court dismissed an appeal by Sun TV, upholding a 2015 trial court order that directed the channel to pay Sukanya Rs 10 lakh in damages .
Why the Court Held Sun TV Responsible
The core of the verdict hinged on editorial negligence. The Madras High Court noted that Sun TV had a commercial agreement with the interviewer giving them “unrestricted rights to edit, cut, delete, modify, alter and add any portion” of the interview .
The channel could have removed the defamatory claims but chose not to. “Having reserved the right to edit… it is the duty that is enjoined upon the appellant to verify the contents of the interview before its publication,” the judge observed .
The court also dismissed Sun TV’s argument that it had expressed regret via a third-party magazine. The judge stated that if the apology had been aired on the same channel, it would have reached the same viewers who watched the defamation .
Conclusion
For the 90s star who once graced the covers of magazines and ruled the box office, the compensation feels less about the money and more about vindication. While the Madras High Court noted that she was unable to prove “mathematical loss of reputation,” it acknowledged the inherent damage caused by a broadcaster’s failure to verify facts .
Sukanya continues to act occasionally, returning to the small screen in 2024 for the soap opera Shakthi IPS . But for her fans, the recent verdict closes a painful chapter on what should have been one of Tamil cinema’s most enduring careers.
