Sarkar hit screens on November 6.

Tamil actor Vijay’s latest film Sarkar, which hit screens on November 6, has already courted a political controversy. The movie has irked members of the ruling AIADMK party in Tamil Nadu due to certain scenes that were perceived as a direct attack on the government.

The members of the AIADMK intensified protests on Thursday by allegedly vandalising cinema halls that were showing Sarkar in the state demanding removal of contentious scenes.

On Thursday evening, the makers of Sakar confirmed to indianexpress.com over a phone call that they have decided to modify the controversial scenes. References to Varalaxmi Sarathkumar’s character Komalavalli will be muted. Komalavalli was the original name of former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa. The makers will also remove a scene which shows director AR Murugadoss throwing state-provided freebies into the fire.

Tamil Nadu Information and Publicity Minister Kadambur C Raju was the first to take offense to the scenes and demand cuts. “This is not good for an upcoming actor like Vijay. I know people won’t accept these scenes. It was brought to our knowledge and this was disappointing,” he wrote on his Twitter page. Soon the issue began snowballing into a major political controversy.

Actor-politician Kamal Haasan slammed the government, while reacting to the AIADMK’s objection to a film that has been passed by the censor board for public screening. “It’s not new for this state government to put pressure on filmmakers who have obtained the censor certificate before releasing the film. A government that cannot accept criticism will definitely derail. Only people will win,” tweeted the Vishwaroopam 2 actor.

It’s worth noting that Vijay’s 2017 blockbuster Mersal had also sparked a major political controversy after the state unit of BJP took exception to the dialogues that were critical of demonetisation and GST.