Vallipuram Vasanthan

Vallipuram Vasanthan (; 1 January 1966 – 5 July 1987), commonly known by the nom de guerre Captain Miller, was a Sri Lankan Tamil member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a separatist Tamil militant organisation in Sri Lanka. He was the LTTE's first Black Tiger.

Early life Vasanthan was born on 1 January 1966. He was from Thunnalai in northern Sri Lanka. He was educated at Hartley College in Point Pedro.

LTTE Captain Miller shrine at Nelliady Madhya Maha Vidyalayam on Black Tigers Day, 2004.

Disturbed by the Black July anti-Tamil riots, Vasanthan joined the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 1983 as a driver. He became a full time member of the LTTE a year later.

During the Vadamarachchi Operation (Operation Liberation) the Sri Lanka Army took over Nelliady Madhya Maha Vidyalayam and turned it into a military base. The LTTE resolved to capture the base which was heavily reinforced and surrounded by barbed wire. Miller visited his family on 29 June 1987 and treated them and his friends to ice cream. 55.

The incident was videotaped and Miller was posthumously promoted to captain. A shrine, including a golden statue of Miller, was built at Nelliady Madhya Maha Vidyalayam. After the Sri Lankan military re-captured the Vadamarachchi region in 1996 they destroyed Miller's shrine but locals managed to save and hide his statue. The statue and new memorial plaque were re-installed in 2002 during the Norwegian mediated Cease Fire Agreement. After war resumed, Miller's statue was attacked and destroyed by armed men on 23 August 2006. The remnants of the shrine – the dais on which Miller's statue stood and stone memorial plaque – were destroyed by the army on 4 July 2010.

In popular culture His name inspired the title of a Tamil movie released in 2024 starring Dhanush; however, the movie is not about the real Captain Miller, but rather a fictional soldier-turned-rebel who fights against the British Raj in the 1930s.