The controversies around Vijay-starrer Sarkar don’t seem to end. Following the worldwide release of the film yesterday, the politicians of the ruling party AIADMK have condemned certain scenes in the movie and demanded their removal.
Kadambur Raju, Minister for Information and Publicity, said at a press meet: “The scenes don’t seem to be there for the film, but to further Vijay’s political motives – which the people of TN will refuse to accept. This doesn’t bode well, especially when coming from an actor like Vijay. While there is no link between the censor board and the state government, we were made aware of the scenes and we will hold discussions with the Chief Minister on the further course of action. We will let the team remove the scenes themselves; if they don’t, we’ll then have to see what needs to be done.”
The Minister for Higher Education, KP Anbalagan, in an interview, observed that the public will not heed the scenes in the film that shows people trashing the electronic freebies given by the government. “The people will not like it if the film tells them not to accept freebies provided to them. They also won’t heed the scenes that criticise the government.” Anbalagan then added that he was sure of the public’s support for the ruling party.
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This aside, yet another controversy involved the name of Varalaxmi Sarathkumar’s character in the film. In Sarkar, Varalaxmi plays Komalavalli, who counsels her politician father from Canada. The name of her character in the film is revealed only after she enters politics by killing her own father for power. An News7 report said that a group of people within the government had found the name objectionable as they had surmised it to be an indirect reference to former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who was named Komalavalli at birth.
Sarkar, directed by A R Murugadoss and starring Vijay, Keerthy Suresh and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, received mixed reviews upon its release. The film was in legal trouble earlier when director AR Murugadoss was accused of plagiarism by writer Varun Rajendran who alleged that the story of Sarkar was a copy of his registered script Sengol. The two parties then reached a compromise, with Murugadoss agreeing to credit Varun Rajendran for the script.