The controversy surrounding Mersal, the Tamil movie starring superstar Joseph Vijay, is all because of politicians, especially those from the BJP, according to MM Methiazhagan, regional censor board chief, Chennai.
“There is nothing controversial in the dialogues or in the visuals. The producer was cooperative and removed some of the objectionable shots from the original,” Methiazhagan told The Pioneer. The official said the committee which watched the movie did not feel that the dialogues on GST were critical. “This issue did not figure in our discussion after watching the movie,” said Methiazhagan.
He said there was no criticism against the Goods and Services Tax rate or for that matter against any policies of the Central Government. “Yes, there are references to GST and issues like that. But it is not criticism,” said the censor board official who chaired the meeting which cleared the movie for the Diwali release.
According to Methiazhagan, it all depends on the way the viewer watches the movie. “We have done it with good intentions and to create an awareness among the people. But the politicians create issues where there are no issues,” he said.
S Ve Shekhar, theatre personality who had officiated as chairman of the Chennai zone of the censor board said that it was premature for the movie-makers to include GST as an issue in this movie. “The GST was launched only in July 2017 and it would take some more time for anyone to pass a final judgement on it. There was no need for them to make critical comments at this phase itself,” said Shekhar.
He also felt that the censor board could have sought the opinion of financial or legal experts before clearing the movie for public exhibition. “I feel there has been some mischief somewhere in along the route which cleared the movie,” said Shekhar.