 "Mersal's Telugu version Adirindhi mutes 'contentious' references to GST, demonetisation")
Adhirindhi, the Telugu version of Mersal, which has been dragged into controversies, finally released in theatres but with two major cuts. The contentious words, demonetisation and GST, were muted. According to the same report, the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) office in Chennai censored the Telugu version. After a meeting with the officials, the producers decided to mute the dialogue as the CBFC demanded these scenes to be either muted or deleted. The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) had earlier raised objections to two scenes in Mersal, which took a dig at the party’s policies at the Centre. In one of them, Vijay’s character claims that in Singapore, you will get free treatment while the country charges only 7 per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST). But in India, people are charged 28% GST but still there is no free treatment. Many people took to social media to criticise the decision to mute scenes in the film.
#Adhirindhi The longest mute ever in a film..
— Maheshp (@thisismaheshp) November 9, 2017
#Adhirindhi is a good one time watch.Lesser runtime would have been better.Songs are below avg apart from one song.Magician magics are some times hard to believe but well managed with story.GST dialogue mute makes climax look bleak.Overall good movie to watch for this weekend :)
— PuvvalaVirat (@PuvvalaVirat) November 9, 2017
Adirindhi was initially expected to release on 27 October but received a major blow as the CBFC did not issue any certificate to the film. While addressing the Mersal controversy in October, Thenandal Films issued a statement stating that they were willing to remove “any views in the film that can create misunderstanding.” The producers of the film had even met with senior BJP leaders and explained the contents of the scene. “Looking at it from their point of view, their opposition seems justified. If there are any views in the film that can create misunderstanding and these need to be removed, we are ready to do it,” the producers said in the statement. (Also read — Mersal becomes highest grossing Tamil film in Kerala: The curious case of Malayali love for Vijay's films)
