It is a climax that no film story can have. But the final move of a film producer has paved the way for his movie, which was facing glitches in its release mainly due to a perceived fear that a politician might turn ‘villain’, hitting the screens, though it is not known what the hero has to say on that. So the film, Gajendra, might at last see the light of the day with its producer V A Durai calling on PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss and wresting an assurance from him that PMK party activists will not act in any manner detrimental to the running of the film in cinema halls.

Fear had earlier loomed large over tinsel town as the recent war of words between actor Vijayakanth, who plays the lead role in Gajendra and Ramadoss, might prompt PMK party cadre to unleash violence in cinema halls, particularly since the behavior of the PMK men when Baba was released was fresh in the collective mind of the industry.

With film exhibitors and distributors being hesitant to buy the film, Durai, in a bid to get his film released without any trouble, decided to dispel the fear and also clear the possible hurdles. So he met Ramadoss a couple of days back in Chennai and appraised him of his difficulties and sought his co-operation for the smooth release of the film. Speaking about the meeting, Durai said, ‘I decided to call on Ramadoss since I felt any hindrance to release the movie would lead to a big loss not just to me, but to the large number of distributors, theatre owners and technicians involved in the project. Ramadoss listened to me patiently . He assured me that his party men would in no way be an obstacle for its safe release.’

Durai said that Ramadoss had told him that cinema should be a medium to propagate good values to the masses especially the youths. Expressing his happiness, Durai said, ‘I am very much relieved after my meeting with him (Dr Ramadoss). This has emboldened me to go for an early release of my movie, made at a cost of over Rs six crore’. Trouble had started when Vijayakanth’s statement at a public meeting a couple of months ago, apparently taking a dig on Union Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, son of PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss, for not facing elections and yet becoming a Union Minister had created a controversy. The PMK on its part took to the streets and protested against the actor’s statement. Effigies of the actor were also burnt at several places by the party men.

Meanwhile, the Tamil Film Producer Council and Tamil Film Distributors Council too issued a stern warning then to the party. A section of producers urged the PMK to counter Vijayakanth’s statements at a public forum rather than threatening to indulge in violence by damaging theatres releasing the actor’s film or running away with the film’s reels.

Though subsequently a truce was called between Vijaykanth and Ramadoss, the fear that PMK cadre might be bidding their time to disrupt the running of Gajendra in cinema halls persisted. Now with Durai calling on Ramadoss, the fears could be put to rest. ‘I have planned Gajendra’s release by early next week’, Durai says happily.