Sarkar director AR Murugadoss had moved the Madras High Court seeking an anticipatory bail. (Photo credit: AR Murugadoss/Facebook)
The Madras High Court on Friday restrained the police from arresting Sarkar director AR Murugadoss till November 27. The filmmaker earlier in the day had moved the court seeking an anticipatory bail after protests began against certain scenes in Sarkar.
On Thursday night, Murugadoss had tweeted that police officials visited his house at night and ‘banged the door several times’ but he was not present at his residence. Before the police’s arrival, Murugadoss had confirmed the deletion of controversial scenes from Sarkar.
Sarkar, which has been breaking box office records ever since its release on Tuesday, came under the scanner after the ruling AIADMK objected to certain scenes in the film. The members of the political party protested outside theaters that were screening Sarkar and also allegedly tore down posters and banners of the Vijay starrer.
Police had come to my house late tonight and banged the door several times.Since I was not there they left the premises. Right now I was told there is no police outside my house.
— A.R.Murugadoss (@ARMurugadoss) November 8, 2018
On Thursday evening, the makers confirmed to indianexpress.com that they have decided to modify the controversial scenes. They said 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.
Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan have come out in support of the filmmaker and condemned the protests by AIADMK. Haasan in his tweet mentioned, “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.” Rajinikanth wrote on Twitter, “After a film is cleared by the censor board for the release, vandalizing cinema halls, tearing down posters demanding particular cuts in the film is against the law. I condemn it.”