Film fraternity shows solidarity with jailed leader

October 01, 2014 03:06 am | Updated November 28, 2021 07:38 am IST - CHENNAI:

Members of the Tamil film fraternity, minus four of its big stars, held a day-long fast in support of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, who was recently convicted in the disproportionate assets case, in front of the State guest house on Tuesday.

The roads that led to the venue were adorned with large flex boards screaming of the injustice meted out to the former Chief Minister. One of them even asked, “How can man punish God?”

Anticipating the participation of big stars, a significant crowd, apart from passionate cadre of AIADMK, turned up, forcing the police to block the entire stretch and place barricades.

Before ending the protest around 4.30 p.m., a statement was read out by T. Siva, secretary of Tamil Film Producer’s Union, who said the protest was organised to raise a collective voice against a ‘fabricated case’ and an ‘unfair’ verdict.

Actor Sarath Kumar, leader of All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi (AISMK), a party allied with AIADMK, and an important member of the Nadigar Sangam, said nobody was coerced into participating in the protest.

“The Chief Minister has always been very supportive of the film industry and we wanted to show our support to her,” he said.

The president of the Tamil Nadu Film Directors’ Association clarified they were not protesting against the verdict of the Court but were merely showing solidarity.

“Let me state this is not a protest. We are shocked and saddened by the verdict. We hope she will soon be acquitted and return as Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister,” he said.

While actor Sarath Kumar, along with office-bearers of the Producers’ Council and Directors’ Union, was present the entire day, big names such as actors Suriya and Vikram made their way to the venue past noon. Some well-known filmmakers were missing.

The short notice was cited as a major reason why some of the big names couldn’t participate.

There was, however, enough drama throughout the day — a celebrity managed to click a selfie, a reporter, allegedly belonging to a rival television channel, was ejected by supporters of AIADMK, girls from nearby colleges waited to get autographs from their favourite stars, and there were cadre who just couldn’t stop crying.

Veteran actor S.S. Rajendran broke the fast officially by taking a sip of fruit juice.

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