Don’t  ‘demon-etise’ Tamil film Mersal, BJP advised by Rahul Gandhi 

Veteran actor Kamal Haasan on Saturday threw his weight behind the makers of Vijay-starrer Mersal, asking those opposing the just-released Tamil movie over references to the GST to “counter criticism with logical response”.

In a Twitter post, Haasan said:

Haasan had a few years ago threatened to leave India in wake of protests against his film Vishwaroopam.

Former minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambarm too tweeted in favour of the film recalling a 1952 film Parasakthi and saying that it would have faced difficulties in getting approval of the Censor board had it released now.

Parasakthi, incidentally revolved around three brothers who hailed from Madurai but lived in then Burma as immigrants and how they dealt with misfortunes they faced during the second World War.

The film, written by M Karunanidhi, who later went on to become the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, won critical acclaim but was embroiled in controversy because of its portrayal of Brahmins and Hindu customs in a poor light. Though a certain section demanded ban on the film, the film was left alone.

Congress Vice President too tweeted in support of the film:

Earlier on Saturday, Kabali director Ranjith too came in defence of Mersal saying that there was no need to remove scenes on GST as demanded by the BJP.

The CPI(M) too has described the BJP’s criticism an “attack on freedom of expression”.

While Tamil film Mersal opened to a massive collection worldwide on Friday, the Vijay starrer film attracted attention for its dig at GST, demonetisation and digital India. One of the dialogues in the film has the star saying that while Singapore has 7% GST , medical coverage there is universal while we have 28% GST and yet why are our hospitals not free ??

BJP has officially protested alleging that the information is incorrect and ‘false’.

BJP’s National Secretary H Raja in a tweet raked up the actor's Christian origins.

“Joseph Vijay's hatred for Modi is Mersal.” Referring to the actor's dialogue in the movie, Raja tweeted that in the last 20 years, 17,500 churches, 9,700 mosques and 370 temples were built. Out of these what should be avoided to build hospitals, Raja posted.

According to Raja, education and healthcare is free in government schools and hospitals. “It is a lie to say healthcare is free in Singapore.”

Raja even said Mersal shows Vijay's ignorance in economic matters as the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is not a new tax and the tax on liquor is over 58 per cent.

On her part, Tamil Nadu BJP President Tamilisai Soundararajan demanded removal of the dialogues relating to GST, digital payments and temples from the movie as they spread a wrong message.

She also wondered whether Vijay had asked his fans to distribute milk to poor children instead of pouring it on his cutouts erected outside the theatres.

With inputs from agencies