Burglars Return Director’s National Awards With An Apology Note!

Chennai: Who said burglars and thieves don’t have a heart?

Ask film director Manikandan.

A group of burglars broke into his ancestral house in Madurai’s Usilampatti last week and took away a big haul of valuables.

However, two days after committing the burglary, they returned a part of the loot — two National Film Award medals won by Manikandan — with a note of apology.

The unidentified men left the note along with the medals in a plastic bag, outside the gate of the house two days after the break-in. The contents of the note, originally in Tamil read,

“Sir, please forgive us. Your hard work is yours,” the thieves wrote in a note in Tamil which was kept alongside the two medals in a plastic bag outside the gate of the house, as reported by Deccan Herald.

What the burglars didn’t return were about 15 sovereigns of gold, Rs 1 lakh in cash and other valuables.

The director, who lives with his pet dog, had gone to Chennai when the burglary took place.

It was when the director’s friends visited the house to feed his pet dog that the theft was discovered.

“When one of his employees, Naresh, returned home on Sunday night from the cinema theatre, he found the plastic bag hanging on the gate,” Usilampatti Deputy Superintendent of Police C Nallu was quoted as saying The Hindu.

The gold, cash and other valuable which were taken away have not yet been recovered, the DSP said, adding that a case has been registered and an investigation is underway.

Manikandan, a filmmaker and cinematographer in Tamil film industry, won the National awards for his films ‘Kaaka Muttai’ and ‘Kadaisi Vivasaayi’.

‘Kaaka Muttai’ won the National Film Award for Best Children’s Film in 2015, while ‘Kadaisi Vivasaayi’ was adjudged Best Feature Film in Tamil in 2022.