It’s almost been a month since the first look of Vijay’s Sarkar was unveiled. The poster created a lot of buzz, but for all the wrong reasons. The picture of the actor lighting a cigarette has ruffled a lot of feathers.
Former Union health minister and PMK leader Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss was one of the first ones to react. He slammed Vijay and the film’s director AR Murugadoss for promoting smoking. He also pulled out an old interview of the actor where he had claimed that he will not come in any smoking scenes.
Shame on Actor Vijay for promoting Smoking in this first look of his next movie.#ActResponsibly #DoNotPromoteSmoking
— Dr ANBUMANI RAMADOSS (@draramadoss) June 21, 2018
— Dr ANBUMANI RAMADOSS (@draramadoss) June 21, 2018
Cyril Alexander, an advocate and a tobacco control activist, next filed a Public Interest Litigation demanding that the actor and the director pay Rs. 10 crore each to the cancer treatment centre at the Government Royapettah Hospital, Chennai.
Talking about the PIL, Cyril told Silverscreen, “Cinema and peer pressure are the most dominating factors which influence people to take up smoking – a non-communicable disease. When poisoning a person is considered to be a crime, then encouraging the use of tobacco products is also a crime. We are working on collecting the statistics on deaths caused due to usage of tobacco products. We will file criminal cases against the promoters.”
Apart from the PIL, a police complaint was registered with the City Commissioner’s Office by a Chennai-based advocate Tamilvendan against Vijay and Murugadoss. Moreover, the Public Health Department issued notices to Vijay, Murugadoss and Sun Pictures to take down all the promotional images from all platforms. The state department had also stated that they will review the action taken by the Sarkar team.
While the posters have been removed from all platforms, including Vijay deleting his tweet, the team’s spokesperson said that they have no control over the posters which are already in circulation on social media.
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Amid all the backlash, several artistes from the film industry came out in support of the actor. Silambarasan through a video invited “Anbumani uncle” (Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss) to have a debate on the issue, while director Naveen of Moodar Koodam fame said that the common man is smart enough to make his own decisions, and won’t necessarily be influenced by what they see on-screen. Similarly in a press meet, T Rajendar said that cinema is a reflection of the society we live in and it is not the other way around.
Recently in an interview to a television channel, Vijay Sethupathi said that everyone who are protesting against the poster are vying for publicity. He also said that if people want to end this problem, they must speak against the cigarette company and not the actor.
In response to Sethupathi’s comments, Pasumai Thaayagam, an NGO run by Ramadoss released a statement saying that the actor lacked common sense. The statement also said that contrary to the actor’s claims, Anbumani is fighting against the tobacco companies and cigarette manufacturers in the country.
With the poster creating so much buzz, all eyes will be on the film that releases this Diwali.