If Jayalalithaa were alive, wouldn’t have made Sarkar

With the Day 2 reports for his recent bi-lingual release ‘Sarkar’ announcing its entry into the 100-crore club, director A R Murugadoss and his camp are expectedly very happy. The dubbed version in Telugu, as of now, has no competition till the next week, also drew good openings in the two Telugu states. 

However, the uncomfortably close depiction of Dravidian politics, with both the Tamil political parties brought minutely under the scanner for its style of governance must have been a calculated risk for the producers, the formidable Sun Pictures.  Speaking to the local media, a few days prior to the film getting released worldwide, the director had admitted plainly: ‘I would like to categorically say one thing. If Jayalalitha madam had been alive, I would not have readied up such a story. 

It was her demise and its aftermath that gave me the courage to take up a political film. If she was alive and I would have attempted something similar, the restrictions would have been more’.  Already, a few DMK leaders have had to hear protests about a few scenes, if reports are to be believed.  All the same, the phenomenal response in the opening week must have reassured the banner for sure!