TN Congress demands ban on Sivaji-The Boss

Televisionpoint.com Correspondent
A Congress man has filed a petition in the Madras High Court seeking a ban on the screening of the Tamil film Sivaji-The Boss, starring superstar Rajnikanth, for "defaming Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi."

Sathyamoorthy has sought an order directing Rajnikanth, producer A.V.M. Saravanan and director Shankar to pay Rs 50 crore as, damages to the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee.

In his petition, Satyamoorthy said a particular scene in the film had portrayed Gandhi and the Prime Minister in bad light. In the scene, when Rajnikanth, playing a US returned software engineer, approaches the villain Adikesavan for help in starting a free university, the latter is seen seated at a table which has a photograph of him standing between Sonia Gandhi and Dr Manmohan Singh. He is also portrayed as a Congressmen through his costumes in the film, he added.

According to the Congressman the photograph, shown four times in the film, gave the impression that the villain belonged to the Congress and that its leaders supported his activities of exploiting the public.

"Actor Rajnikanth, producer Saravanan and director Shankar have a common intention to attack the Congress party, which has produced great leaders like Jawaharalal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi," he charged.

Contending that there was an attempt to lower the image of the Congress through the film, Sathyamoorthy said people could lose faith in the Congress and the government by such a portrayal.

He alleged that Rajnikanth along with the producer and director had deliberatey tried to create an impression that the Congress party was supporting private educational institutions only for money.

"The allegation of malafide against our party is clearly a misuse of the right to freedom of expression and other rights guaranteed in the Constitution," he added.