Mersal Telugu release delayed over GST dialogue; Vijay-starrer denied censor certificate

Vijay’s latest project Mersal, directed by Atlee, was supposed to release in Telugu on 27 October, but the film seems to be facing trouble. Titled Adhirindhi, the release of the film was postponed over the censoring of the dialogues on the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Producer Aditi Ravindranath revealed the news on Twitter, and expressed that no new release date has been confirmed.

#Adhirindhi not releasing tom. Will update on release date. @ThenandalFilms @nseplofficial

— Aditi Ravindranath (@aditi1231) October 26, 2017

Mersal, in the original Tamil language, was awarded a ‘U/A’ certificate. It remains unclear as to why the film is not being certified by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) in Telugu.

The Telangana BJP has clarified that although they believe that the Vijay-starrer is “misinterpreting facts”, they have not asked for censoring at the local level. “The Telangana BJP has not asked for a review or a relook at the censor certificate of the Telugu version. Some leaders from Tamil Nadu may have asked for it but the party has not asked for any local certification… Telangana BJP doesn’t have any idea about the Telugu version not getting a regional censor certificate,” said Telangana BJP official Krishna Sagar Rao to Deccan Chronicle.

Last week, the Tamil Nadu BJP raised an objection to the “ incorrect references ” to GST in the film, which they termed were generating the wrong perception. Soon, there were demands that these portions of the film should be removed, and on 22 October, the producers of the film said that they would be open to cutting out any sections that people had an objection to.

H Raja, BJP’s national secretary, tweeted a picture of Vijay’s voter ID , insinuating that he had criticised GST in the film because he is a Christian and anti-government.

The opposition and several people from the film industry, such as Kamal Haasan, supported the film and said that it should not be re-censored, emphasising the importance of free speech.

Also read on Firstpost:  Mersal row: What the political posturing over Vijay-starrer’s anti-GST stance is all about

It was earlier reported that there was a raid on Vijay’s production house, but the GST intelligence department denied these reports and said that it had not conducted such search operations.

Starring Nithya Menon, Kajal Aggarwal and Samantha Ruth Prabhu alongside Vijay, Mersal talks about the corruption rampant in the Indian healthcare system and tells the story of a doctor who tries to mend it.