Vijay’s Sarkar seems to have driven its message home as the Election Commission of India, in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, put up posters informing the public about Section 49 (P) of The Conduct of Election Rules, which can be used if a person’s vote is misused or registered by someone else.
The director of the film, AR Murugadoss, shared the poster on Twitter.
Glad, election commission is bringing awareness on #49p #Sarkar pic.twitter.com/SPnk71M7RR
— A.R.Murugadoss (@ARMurugadoss) March 7, 2019
In Sarkar, Vijay’s character is an NRI person who pays a visit to India to cast his vote. On his arrival, he learns that his vote was already cast by someone else. He takes up the case with the authorities, who he proceeds to inform about Section 49 (P). The section mandates that a person, upon submitting the relevant documents, is provided with a ballot vote, if their vote appears to have been cast by another person.
Perhaps by taking a cue from the movie, the Election Commission decided to inform people about the existence of the section. We don’t often see government authorities draw inspiration from a movie to create awareness, especially when the narrative largely is that movies have a bad influence on public.
This news also comes as something for the makers to cheer about. The movie, although a box-office success, has been mired in controversies. Prior to its release in November 2018, AR Murugadoss’ associate charged him of stealing the film’s story from him. After its release, AIADMK accused the makers of portraying the late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in a bad light.
The controversies reportedly even lead the film’s producers, Sun Pictures, to back out of Murugadoss’ next film with Rajinikanth.
