News Politics National Jayalalitha defends 'Vishwaroopam' ban, to sue Karunanidhi

Jayalalitha defends 'Vishwaroopam' ban, to sue Karunanidhi

Chennai, Jan 31:  Breaking her silence over the controversy surrounding the ban on Tamil film ‘Vishwaroopam', Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today said her government waswilling to facilitate resolution of the crisis if Muslim outfits and actor



She also ridiculed the charge that she bore grudge against Haasan for his remark at a function clamouring for a “dhoti- clad Tamilian” to become Prime Minister, an apparent reference to P Chidambaram.

“Why should I take offence to such statements? Kamal Haasan has freedom to air his views. If he wanted a dhoti-clad person to become Prime Minister, that is his own view. Kamal Haasan does not select the Prime Minister.....” Jayalalithaa said there were law and order problems in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, where the film has been released and it has been banned in various countries, including Malaysia, UAE and Singapore.

“I know nothing about Vishwaroopam,” she said, adding she was not interested in movies any more.  Taking on Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari, Jayalalithaa asked him to do his “homework” before commenting upon the Cinematography Act.

“I do not wish to respond to Mr Manish Tewari. I think he has got lot of homework to do. I think he has not heard about Tamil Nadu Cinema Regulation Act of 1955,” Jayalalithaa told reporters here.

She was reacting to a query from reporters on Tewari suggesting the need to “revisit” the Cinematograp Act to ensure implementation of the Censor Board decisions against the backdrop of Tamil Nadu Government's ban on actor-director Kamal Haasan's movie ‘Vishwaroopam'.

Jayalalithaa said “I think he does not know about the judgement of Supreme Court. When Tamil Nadu Government's ban on film ‘DAM999' was challenged, the petition was thrown out by Supreme Court and our ban order was upheld”.

Tewari had said yesterday that states should implement the decisions of the Censor Board regarding screening of films.