'Mersal' producer yields to BJP, says willing to cut scenes
October 22, 2017 08:05
Facing flak from the Tamil Nadu BJP over dialogues allegedly flaying the GST in Mersal, the film production house has said that if needed, it would delete scenes that have caused "misunderstanding", even as the Congress slammed the saffron party for demanding cuts.
The producers also said that the BJP's opposition to some dialogues in Mersal was "just" from its own perspective.
Giving indication that a truce had been reached between the production house and the state BJP, the producers claimed that BJP leaders have accepted their explanation.
Sri Thenandal Films head Murali Ramaswamy said, "From their perspective, their opposition is just. If opinions (expressed in the movie) that may lead to misunderstanding need to be removed, we are ready for that too."
Earlier, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and senior party leader P Chidambaram had hit out at the state BJP for demanding cuts in Mersal.
"Mr Modi, Cinema is a deep expression of Tamil culture and language. Don't try to demon-etise Tamil pride by interfering in Mersal," Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet which was retweeted by Chidambaram.
The BJP leaders have appreciated "our honest approach to meet them in person, we thank them all", the film's producer said after a meeting with state BJP chief Tamilisai Soundararajan and other leaders.
"We explained the movie's objective, our stand and that this movie has not been produced with an intention to hurt anyone and they have generously accepted it," he said.
"Mersal is not against anyone. It is not a film that expresses opinions against the government either. Even an ordinary person should get access to proper medical amenities and this is the story line of the movie," Ramaswamy said in a statement.
However, he did not elaborate whether the BJP leaders insisted on removing views they found "objectionable" or whether the producers will effect the cuts or not.
In a statement, the Tamil Film Producers Council and South Indian Artistes' Association opposed cuts as the movie had already been censored. They claimed that it went against the right to freedom of expression and will set a bad precedent.
Meanwhile, the BJP has said while the people have right to criticise the government, they must keep their facts correct. H Raja said the BJP welcomes criticism but was only objecting to wrong facts about central government schemes being shown in the film.
"We welcome criticism. But one should not deliberately give false statement through a movie. Some facts in the movie are wrong and we have objected to it. We want rectification of the wrong statements," he said.
Mersal, starring Tamil star Vijay, landed in a controversy after Tamilisai Soundararajan said 'misconceptions' were being promoted in the film about central government schemes, including GST and Digital India.
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