What does it take to wipe the smile off Powerstar Srinivasan’s face? Sending him to Tihar jail isn’t one of them. “Tihar was actually quite a nice jail, despite what people think,” said Srinivasan, reflecting on his arrest and time spent in jail, at the audio launch of Perarasu’s film Tihar.
Srinivasan was arrested for misappropriation of funds and cheating by the CCB in Chennai, last April. “Now I have decided to dedicate my life to my thousands of fans and stay in cinema. All my friends and partners who cheated me are no longer in my life,” he said.
Powerstar recounted his time, “I was in the prison at Chennai for a while, when they woke me up at 2 am and said that I needed to go to Delhi. I was afraid they’d take me to the gallows,” he said. “They told me it was just an inquiry, so I showered and and agreed to go to Delhi,” he says.
When he arrived at the Tihar in Delhi, he was quite surprised to find that inmates had access to cake, ice cream and cool drinks. “Only the next morning did a Tamil guard tell me that my cellmates were attempted rapists! The guard asked if I was here to shoot for a film. I considered lying, but finally I told him the truth. He told me that I could use this in my next film! After being there for 20 days, I am confident that I can survive anywhere in the country,” he says.