Telugu fans of actor Vijay were in for a disappointment, after Adhirindhi, the Telugu version of Mersal, which has been the centre of a controversy, reached theatres with two major 'cuts'.
The scenes of contention, including the one mentioning demonetisation and GST were muted in theatres.
The BJP had objected to two scenes in Mersal, which criticised its policies at the Centre. In one, Vijay’s character says that people in Singapore get free treatment although the country charges only 7% GST, whereas in India, people are charged 28% GST but still don’t get free treatment.
The other scene that BJP has taken offence to in Mersal, is one where someone tries to rob Vijay and Vadivelu’s characters in a foreign country. Vadivelu then opens his wallet and shows the thief that it’s empty - thanks to Digital India
The Times of India reported that the Telugu version was censored at the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) office in Chennai, where the producers chose to mute the dialogue as the Censor Board gave them the option of muting or deleting it.
Many people took to social media, to complain about the muted scenes in the film.
#Adhirindhi The longest mute ever in a film..
— Mahesh Potharamaina (@Maheshcdrm) November 9, 2017
True. Ridiculous behaviour from censor board to mute the controversial dialogues. Where has freedom of speech gone?#adhirindhi #mersal https://t.co/STNrX8fVFz
— Dr VJ (@DocVeroniqueJ) November 9, 2017
#Adhirindhi is a good one time watch.Lesser runtime would have been better.Songs are below avg apart from one song.Magician magics are some times hard to believe but well managed with story.GST dialogue mute makes climax look bleak.Overall good movie to watch for this weekend :)
— PuvvalaVirat (@PuvvalaVirat) November 9, 2017
Show completed super movie with really good message. Don't know why Telugu film censor muted climax!! But we got the actual #GST message long time back and this made us wait for the movie. As expected Govt proves their guilty by doing this. #Adhirindhi #Mersal
— Vikaus Muddula (@WhatisVikaus) November 9, 2017
Last month, Adirindhi was scheduled to release on October 27 but hit a roadblock with the censor board not issuing a certificate.
Following the CBFC’s decision to not issue the certificate, Thenandal Films, the producers announced that Adirindhi would not release immediately.
Aditi Ravindranath, the Executive Producer and Marketing Head at Thenandal Films tweeted to say that the film’s release would be updated.
In response to the Mersal controversy, Thenandal Films had issued a statement last month announcing that they were ready to remove “any views in the film that can create misunderstanding.”
The producers of the film had met with senior BJP leaders and given an explanation on the contents of the scene.
“Looking at it from their point of view, their opposition seems justified. If there are any views in the film that can create misunderstanding and these need to be removed, we are ready to do it,” they said in the statement.
IANS inputs