With the AR Murugadoss directorial Sarkar ruffling the ruling AIADMK party’s feathers, rumours abounded late on Thursday night that police had reached the director’s house with the intent to arrest him.
A short while after the official Twitter handle of Sun Pictures, the producers of the movie Sarkar, put up a post on the impending arrest of AR Murugadoss, the director himself stepped in to clarify the situation on Thursday night.
In his tweet, about an hour after the post by Sun Pictures, the director stated that the police had indeed knocked on the doors and had left since he was not at the house in Arumbakkam in Chennai.
Police had come to my house late tonight and banged the door several times.Since I was not there they left the premises. Right now I was told there is no police outside my house.
— A.R.Murugadoss (@ARMurugadoss) November 8, 2018
Meanwhile, the Tamil film industry has been backing the film and its makers with big stars like Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan tweeting in its favour. Vishal, President of the Nadigar Sangam and TFPC, also tweeted that the film should not be targeted since it had been cleared by the CBFC. Support continues to come in from other voices in the industry with directors like Pa Ranjith and CS Amudhan joining in.
On Friday, Kaala director Pa Ranjith tweeted that those who oppose Sarkar through abuse of power and violence already know democracy is dead.
#சர்கார் விமர்சனத்தை எதிர்க்க அரசதிகாரத்தையும், வன்முறையையும் கையாளுபவர்களுக்கு தெரிந்தே இருக்கிறது, இந்த நாட்டில் என்றோ “ஜனநாயகம்” அழிந்து/இழந்து போய்விட்டது என்று!!!
— pa.ranjith (@beemji) November 9, 2018
Director CS Amudhan too, in his own style, expressed his support by tweeting that he is quite disappointed that his parody film Tamizh Padam 2.0 was not given “similar publicity”.
I strongly object to the fact that we were not given similar publicity, we also tried our best. This is totally partisan behaviour. #IStandWithSarkaar
— C.S.Amudhan (@csamudhan) November 9, 2018
Actor and politician Khushbu Sundar and music director GV Prakash Kumar tweeted in support of the film, questioning the motive behind those protesting against a film that has been cleared by the CBFC.
What n who gives the rights to those who oppose n indulge in violating the freedom of a filmmaker once the same has been okayed by the CBFC? it just shows how scared,petty minded bull crappers these thugs of TN are.. even a fractional fiction hits them pretty hard.. #SARKAR
— khushbusundar..and it's NAKHAT KHAN for the BJP.. (@khushsundar) November 8, 2018
தணிக்கை குழு தணிக்கை செய்த திரைப்படத்தை தணிக்கை செய்ய நினைப்பது சட்டப்படி குற்றம். Then why do we have censor ? Trying to show violence on general public spaces is not right ... #sarkar
— G.V.Prakash Kumar (@gvprakash) November 9, 2018
Actor Sibi Sathyaraj also expressed his support for Sarkar, stating that seeking ban on a movie which has been cleared by CBFC is an insult to democracy.
முறையாக தணிக்கை செய்யப்பட்டு வெளியான ஒரு திரைப்படத்தை தடை செய்ய எவருக்கும் உரிமை கிடையாது.அவ்வாறு செய்வது ஜனநாயக முறைக்கு அவமானம்! #PeoplesFavSARKAR
— Sibi (Sathya)raj (@Sibi_Sathyaraj) November 9, 2018
While discussions were on about removing the controversial scenes from the film on Thursday, AIADMK party members have been tearing down banners and demanding for the ban of the film in places like Salem on Friday. It is also being reported that director AR Murugadoss has applied for anticipatory bail with the Madras High Court on Friday.
Also read: