Director Ameer Sultan has spoken about the much-debated look of Thalapathy Vijay in Sarkar poster which shows the actor smoking. The director has stated that PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss expressed his genuine concerns while stating that it should not become an issue because the censor board looks after all the issues.
He says that Anbumani Ramadoss had a point when he raised objections to the controversial poster as the politician expressed his displeasure considering the adverse effect of smoking on society. Ameer, in a YouTube interview, said:
Vijay fans will love whatever he does and he doesn't not have to smoke cigarette. Even if he had a gun in place of cigarette it would have looked stylish. He has a fan following which will follow whatever he does on screen. [sic]
The other way of looking at the issue is that there should not be opposition because censor board is in place to look into such issues. Why do people criticise smoking cigarette or drinking sequences on-screen when it is being sold everywhere in the state? [sic]" he questions while adding that the movies without such sequences might look like a documentary.
According to him, adding statutory warning during the smoking or drinking sequences do not serve any purpose and wonders why the rule is applicable only to South cinema. He alleges that Aamir Khan's Dangal did not have a similar warning and claims that many Hindi movies do not carry the messages.
Anbumani Ramadoss had criticised Vijay in strong words on Twitter. He wrote, "You'll look more stylish without that cigarette. #SmokingKills #SmokingCausesCancer [sic]"
He added, "Shame on Actor Vijay for promoting Smoking in this first look of his next movie. #ActResponsibly #DoNotPromoteSmoking [sic]."
Later, it became a major issue and Sun Pictures was forced to delete the posters of the movie from its social media accounts after it met with criticism from the Tamil Nadu People's Forum for Tobacco Control and anti-smoking activists.
The Madras High Court issued notices to the actor, director AR Murugadoss, and the production house Sun Pictures apart from the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the Tamil Nadu government and the Central Board of Film Certification over the issue.
