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Kamal Haasan throws weight behind Vijay’s ‘Mersal’

“Mersal was certified. Don’t re-censor it... Counter criticism with logical response. Don’t silence critics. India will shine when it speaks,” the actor tweeted.

Kamal Haasan on October 20 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, Mr. Haasan said: “Mersal was certified. Don’t re-censor it.”

“Counter criticism with logical response. Don’t silence critics. India will shine when it speaks,” he said.

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

References to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in Mersal have not gone down well with the BJP. The party objected to what it termed “untruths” about the central taxation regime in the film and demanded that the references be deleted.

Union Minister Pon. Radhakrishnan demanded the removal of the “untruths” about the GST, rolled out by the BJP-led NDA government on July 1, while his party colleague H. Raja claimed the film exposed Mr. Vijay’s “anti-Modi hatred”.

“The film producer should remove the untruths regarding the GST from the film,” Mr. Radhakrishnan told reporters in Nagercoil. His remarks came a day after the BJP’s State unit made a similar demand, charging the film’s crew with making “incorrect references” about the central taxation regime.

Earlier on October 20, Pa. Ranjith, who directed Rajinikanth-starrer Kabali, came to the defence of the Mersal crew, questioning the BJP’s logic of demanding the cuts. Mr. Ranjith said there was no need for removing the scenes on GST as demanded by the BJP.

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

Watch: The speech from Mersal that has made the TN BJP mad

If you’ve been following the Tamil film industry, chances are you’ll have heard of a film titled Mersal, starring fan-favourite actor Vijay in the lead role.

The controversy around the film initially started when talk of the film not getting a CBFC certificate despite the release date approaching came up, which seemed to continue all the way until the end of last week when the film was released.

Now, a certain dialogue from the film has the Tamil Nadu BJP rattled. The scene in question features Vijay’s character giving a public speech in front of a courthouse, detailing the motivations for his actions. In the speech, which can be seen below, Vijay’s character points out how Singapore has a GST rate of 7% and the country manages to provide free medical services to its citizens, while Indians don’t get that despite paying up to 28% GST and medicines are taxed 12%. He also points out how alcohol is not put under the GST system.

Not stopping there, the character goes on to tell how people have come to fear government-run hospitals, referencing the Gorakhpur incident, pointing out how a government hospital could not afford to pay for oxygen cylinders, leading to several children dying, and then moves on to another hospital where an infant died in an incubator due to a rat bite in Guntur and how another state-run hospital saw mass deaths because they did not have power backup to fall back on.

The speech can be seen below:

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