Chidambaram joins issue on film 'Mersel', flays BJP

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday flayed BJP for sparking off a row with dialogues in Tamil film 'Mersel' wherein the protagonists make critical remarks on Goods and Services Tax (GST). "Notice to film makers: Law is coming, you can only make documentaries praising government's policies," former Union Minister Mr Chidambaram said in a tweet. In another missive in the micro blogging site, he further said, "BJP demands deletion of dialogues in 'Mersal'. Imagine the consequences if 'Parasakthi' was released today". Parasakthi (English: The Goddess) is a 1952 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by R. Krishnan and S Panju.

The film stars Sivaji Ganesan in his cinematic acting debut, along with S V Sahasranamam, S S Rajendran, Sriranjani Jr., and Pandari Bai. It was jointly produced by National Pictures and AVM Productions and is based on the stage play of the same name, written by Pavalar Balasundaram. The film narrates the misfortunes that befall the members of a Tamil family during World War II, and how the members face their individual fate and reunite at the end. The screenplay and dialogues for Parasakthi were written by M.Karunanidhi, who would later become the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. The film's soundtrack was composed by R. Sudarsanam. Parasakthi was released on 17 October 1952, during the festive occasion of Diwali, and faced controversies because of its portrayal of Brahmins and Hindu customs and practices in poor light. The elitarian society including the then ruling State government even demanded the film to be banned.

'Parasakthi' (meaning - The Goddess) is a 1952 Tamil drama film directed by R. Krishnan and S. Panju. The film narrates the misfortunes that befall a Tamil family during World War II but it too had run into controversies for alleged portrayal of Brahmins and Hindu customs in poor light. The film was, however, critically acclaimed. The film 'Mersel' courted controversy as protagonist Vetri, played by popular star Vijay, remarks that India with high high GST rates cannot progress like Singapore. BJP Tamil Nadu unit leader Tamilisai Sounderrajan had questioned why the film was passing a comment on government initiatives.

She suggested that the filmmakers did not have the moral ground to criticise the Central government when they did not follow laws in using animals in their films. “When you make films, you don’t follow rules. But, you criticise the government and tax regime,” she has said. The BJP also demanded that “untruths” as referred in the film regarding the GST should be deleted. “The film producer should remove the untruths regarding GST from the film,” Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan has said in Nagercoil.