Sarkar Director Murugadoss Gets Relief From Arrest Till November 27

The controversy around Tamil superstar Vijay’s latest release Sarkar has caught more flame after the Madras High Court directed the Chennai City Police not to arrest director AR Murugadoss till November 27. Murugadoss had moved the court seeking anticipatory bail against any possible arrest.

In his petition, Murugadoss said he did not make the movie with an intention to hurt anyone. The petition added that people or activists have not protested against the movie but it's the ruling government, which is protesting and it is against the law to demand deletion of scenes after the movie has been certified by the censor board. After hearing the director's bail plea, the Madras high court restrained Tamil Nadu police from arresting him.

On Thursday night, Murugadoss had tweeted about the presence of police outside his house. He wrote, “Police had come to my house late tonight and banged the door several times. Since I was not there they left the premises. Right now I was told there is no police outside my house."

Sarkar, which released on November 7, has scenes that criticise the previous Tamil Nadu government led by the late J Jayalalithaa. The film has been facing stiff opposition from AIADMK workers all over the state. At some movie halls in Coimbatore and Chennai, banners of the film and that of Vijay were damaged and burnt, allegedly by AIADMK supporters. Some AIADMK workers staged a sit-in at a theatre in Coimbatore seeking a ban on the film.

Later, the makers agreed to delete certain ‘objectionable’ scenes from the film. They also showed the willingness to ‘mute’ a reference to Jayalalithaa.

Tamil superstar Rajinikanth has lashed out at the ruling AIADMK for staging protests. He questioned the rationale behind protesting against a film certified by the Censor Board.

While "strongly condemning" the demands for deletion of scenes, he tweeted, “It is against the law to hold protests seeking removal of some scenes from a Censor board certified film and trying to stall the screening and damaging the banners."

Meanwhile, Sarkar has turned out to be a goldmine for its producers. The film raked in more than Rs 100 crore in first two days of its release. It’s still going strong at the box office and the controversy is likely to help it more at the ticket window.

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