Despite all the brouhaha surrounding Vishal and the fight for the Nadigar Sangam elections, Vishal said that all of his public activities were not aimed at facilitating his entry into politics. Speaking at the audio launch of his upcoming flick Paayum Puli, directed by Suseenthiran, he said, “I am not doing anything to jump into politics. These are things that I just think are right.”
Ever since he began working towards the Nadigar Sangam polls, Vishal has been donating books, educational aid and speaking up for social causes. Recently, he participated in a protest organised by PFCI to condemn the killing of dogs in Kerala. That caught him a lot of flak and the recoil was fairly strong. “People are opposing me whatever I do. I didn’t want to get into state issues when I participated in the dog killing issue. I love animals but not politics,” he said. Vishal had even asked Vendhar Movies’ S Madhan to cut the budget allocated for garlands during the launch and sponsor the educational expenses of two students.
He went on to make a commitment, “As Abdul Kalam said, poor children will be sponsored whenever they need help to study. I was not born with a silver spoon and I know how tough it is to get a good education. So, I’m paying it forward.” Vishal was joined by a host of producers, directors and actors from the industry who have come to be well wishers of the actor-producer.
Earlier, speaking at the programme, director K S Ravikumar said that he was a big fan of Vishal’s. Ravikumar also added that his level had completely moved up in the last two years. “I’ve watched all of his films and I’ve really liked the way he handles emotions and action with equal ease.” Ravikumar incidentally complimented composer D Imman, talking about how he could hit the high notes while sitting at his piano, “Even A R Rahman needed to stand up to hit those high notes, but not Imman,” he said.