A day after Tamil Nadu Law Minister CVe Shanmugam threatened to take legal action against the filmmakers of Sarkar, AIADMK MLA and former Mayor of Madurai VV Rajan Chellappa on Thursday launched a protest in front of a multiplex in Madurai. He demanded that the film not be screened until the controversial scenes are removed from it.

Sarkar, a Deepavali release starring Vijay and directed by AR Murugadoss, was released on November 6 across the globe. The ruling AIADMK has objected to some scenes in the film which allegedly targets the state government. This includes scenes in which Murugadoss threw a government freebie into the fire, which the AIADMK has perceived as a dig at the Amma brand of welfare schemes.

A few legislators and ministers from the state government have already gone on record expressing their opposition to the movie and have said that appropriate legal action would be initiated against the director for the alleged defamatory scenes.

In Madurai, the MLA from North Madurai VV Rajan Chellappa led a protest on Thursday morning in front of the Cinipriya multiplex complex demanding the theatre authorities stop playing the film. He also shouted slogans demanding the arrest of Kalanidhi Maran, the Chairman of Sun TV Network. Sun Pictures is the producer of the film. Kalanidhi Maran's brother Dayanidhi was a former DMK MP and is the grandnephew of late DMK Chief M Karunanidhi.   

Speaking to TNM, Rajan Chellappa said that they had gone to the theatre complex to submit a request letter to not screen Sarkar until the controversial scenes are removed from the film. “Our lawyers have also filed a complaint with the commissioner of police in Madurai to order the theatres to not screen the movie in Madurai. Our demand is that till the controversial scenes that insult government schemes, our former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and the scenes that instigate violence are removed, the film must not be screened," the former Mayor of Madurai added. 

AIADMK also led the protests in Coimbatore in front of the theatres screening Sarkar. Ripping the banners and flexboards kept near a theatre opposite the Coimbatore junction raliway station, the protestors demanded the movie not be screened till the controversial scenes are removed. 

Complaint against AR Murugadoss in Chennai

A social activist has submitted a complaint to the Chennai City Police Commissioner on Thursday requesting him to file a case of sedition against director AR Murugadoss. The complaint, filed by G Devarajan, stated that the freebies were distributed by former Chief Ministers M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa to be used by economically disadvantaged people in the state.

“It pained me to watch the scene in which AR Murugadoss threw the free mixie and grinders into the fire in the movie Sarkar. The things that he threw into the fire were properties (symbols) of the government. This scene was shot with an intention to insult Tamil Nadu government,” read the complaint.

Further claiming that AR Murugadoss shot Sarkar with an intention to insult the state government thereby disrupting the unity and harmony in the country, the complaint stated, “I request you to consider AR Murugadoss as a traitor who intended to instigate the violence against the state government.”