Mersal, the latest Tamil action thriller of Ilayathalapathy Vijay has been performing tremendously well at the worldwide box office since its grand release on October 18. The Atlee-directorial is inching towards the Rs 150 crore mark and has earned a decent collection from Kerala box office as well.
Within five days of its theatrical run, the Vijay-starrer crossed Rs 10 crore mark from across the state. It has now become the fourth highest grosser considering the collection of first three days of any film in Kerala box office with a collection of Rs 10.1 crore. The toppers in the list are the big ticket movies Prabhas' th Baahubali: The Conclusion (Rs 19.25 crore), Mohanlal's Pulimurugan (Rs 12.91 crore) and Rajinikanth's Kabali (Rs 10.44 crore).
Meanwhile, Mersal had a 'super Sunday' at the multiplexes in Kochi with an average theatre occupancy of 98 percent. It earned Rs 7.86 lakh on Sunday alone, taking a total box office collection of Rs 39.76 lakh from the five multiplexes in the city.
Mersal in trouble
Mersal has landed in big trouble after some of the dialogues on demonetisation apparently irking the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members in Tamil Nadu. In the movie, the character played by Vadivelu is making a sarcastic comment on how his pocket has become empty and he thanks 'digital India' referring to the struggles faced by people in India soon after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi banned the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes in the country in an attempt to curb the flow of black money.
Also, Vijay's character is also heard slamming the newly introduced Good and Service Tax (GST) in the country.
Following this, some BJP leaders and activists came forward asking the makers to remove those scenes from the movie. However, many celebrities came forward in support of Mersal and suggested not to re-censor the flick.
Rajinikanth
Important topic addressed... Well done !!! Congratulations team #Mersal
Kamal Haasan
Mersal was certified. Dont re-censor it . Counter criticism with logical response. Dont silence critics. India will shine when it speaks.
Pa Ranjith
There is no need to remove those scenes. Those scenes talk about what people are going through. When those dialogues were uttered, people applauded in theatres, this shows what people are thinking.
Khushbu Sundar
Sme r bound 2 hve sleepless nights ovr #Mersal..demanding removal of scenes is yet another way of throttling freedom..it shows ur fear #BJP
Sarath Kumar
A film which is CERTIFIED by censor board cannot be questioned. If questionable , why censor board at all ?#Mersel
Arvind Swami
By consolidating taxes,GST is making ppl aware of their http://contribution.Now people will ask the govt for their due.What's wrong?#Mersal
