Rahul Gandhi spites PM with ‘Mersal’ jibe, producer walks a tightrope

CHENNAI: Tamil star Vijay’s Diwali release ‘Mersal’ raised the decibels in national politics on Saturday, with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi supporting the movie that came under attack from the BJP for making fun of demonetisation and flaying GST.

On Saturday evening, however, the movie’s producer Murali Ramaswamy met TN BJP president

Tamilisai Soundararajan

and other leaders to clear the air. He said the leaders accepted his explanation, but “if there are misleading scenes in the film, we are ready to remove them.” Hours later, the production house’s CEO tweeted that no scene was cut or muted. Earlier in the day, Rahul stormed social media with his tweet: “Mr. Modi, Cinema is a deep expression of Tamil culture and language. Don’t try to demon-etise Tamil pride by interfering in Mersal”.

Former Union finance minister P Chidambaram joined in, tweeting, “Notice to film makers: Law is coming, you can only make documentaries praising government’s policies”. In another tweet, he said, “BJP demands deletion of dialogues in ‘Mersal’. Support for Vijay, who plays a doctor-crusader in the movie, also came from DMK working president M K Stalin. “BJP’s attempt to muzzle criticism is contrary to democratic principles. DMK always stands for freedom of speech and creative expression,” tweeted Stalin. From the film community, one of the first voices of support to ‘Mersal’ came from Kamal Haasan. “Mersal was certified. Don’t re-censor it. Counter criticism with logical response. Dont silence critics. India will shine when it speaks,” Kamal tweeted on Friday.