CHENNAI : Just after the film certification board removed the scenes objected by AIADMK in Vijay-starrer ‘Sarkar’, Information Minister Kadambur Raju batted for having a representative of the State government on the board, now functioning fully under the control of Central government, to avoid such problems in future.
“In deference to the views of the people, producers of this film have come to a decision to remove those objectionable scenes from Sarkar. With this, the issue has come to an end. So, the agitations against the film will not be there hereafter,” the minister told reporters here.
Asked about the criticism that sending a film which had already been censored for re-censoring would be interfering in the freedom of film industry, the minister said “It is not actually a case for re-censor. It is an appeal for removing certain scenes.
Perhaps, the members of the Censor Board might not have felt the seriousness of such scenes. To avoid this kind of problems in future, there should be a representative from State government too on the Censor Board. This will serve as a permanent solution to such issues in future.”
“We treat everyone in the film industry equally and we have no partiality towards anyone,” the minister said and recalled the welfare measures implemented by the late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa for the film industry. He also recalled how the State government had helped in the release of Mersal film last year when it faced some issues. “If we fail to show our feelings openly, we cannot call ourselves as AIADMK cadre,” the minister said responding to a question.
“Many films in the past have criticised the government. In Sarkar, certain scenes insulted our late leader J Jayalalithaa and the freebie schemes initiated by her for the welfare of the poor. During the DMK regime, two-acre land scheme was announced, but could not be implemented. But these issues were not criticised in that film, but the scenes were deliberately aimed at the welfare schemes of Amma and hence AIADMK cadre agitated against Sarkar,” he said.