Police complaint lodged against actor Vijay over Sarkar stills

A lawyer has filed a police complaint against actor Vijay and director AR Murugadoss over a still from their upcoming film Sarkar, in which the actor is seen smoking a cigar.

Sources say that the complainant, identified as Tamizh Vendhan, a lawyer by profession, who hails from Thiruverkaadu, has filed a complaint at the Vepery police station in the city stating that the first look poster of Sarkar (2019) had Vijay smoking a cigar. He claimed that it could induce or motivate lakhs of the actor's fans and followers to do the same. Therefore, in his plea, he has urged the police to summon the star and his film's director Murugadoss and inquire if any such smoking scenes were there in the film. If there were, he urged the cops to ensure that the team removed such scenes from the film.

It may be recalled that the team of Sarkar had only recently released the first look of the film and its title. They had released it to mark Vijay's birthday, on 22 June.

While fans went berserk with joy over the look of the star in the film and the title of the film, a particular segment of the audience expressed disappointment over the first look as it had the star smoking a cigar. People were quick to point out that Vijay had gone back on his word of not having any smoking scenes in his films.

The posters also evoked a sharp response from former Union minister of health and family welfare Anbumani Ramadoss who was quick to tweet his opinion. "Shame on Actor Vijay for promoting Smoking in this first look of his next movie. #ActResponsibly #DoNotPromoteSmoking You’ll look more stylish without that cigarette."

It may be recalled that Ramadoss had, during a symposium in 2007, requested the actor to not have scenes of him smoking and consuming alcohol in films. "We are staging a protest against having drinking and smoking scenes in films. After our protest, Rajinikanth has stopped acting in scenes that show him smoking. Similarly, it would be great if Vijay too stops acting in scenes that show him smoking," the minister had said.

Vijay, too, had accepted this request and had said in an interview, "I welcome this suggestion of Dr Anbumani Ramadoss. His protest against drinking and smoking is a healthy one and therefore, accepting his request, henceforth I will not act in smoking or drinking scenes."

However, his decision to go back on his word has hurt a certain category of people in the state, some of whom are intent on reminding him his promise of not smoking on screen.