It was Ajith Kumar who hogged all the attention at the mega felicitation function for Chief Minister M Karunanidhi organised by the Tamil film industry in Chennai Saturday. For the actor, who is known to be an outspoken man, appealed to the Chief Minister to protect actors from pressures to lend their support to various issues.

As the ‘Thala’ (as he is popularly known as) went on to speak on the demands and pressures actors faced from a few vested interests to participate and extend moral support to various political and social causes, it evoked a standing ovation from the ‘Thalaivar’ (Superstar Rajinikanth), which later turned into a thunderous applause from the audience.

“Actors only want to act and are not interested in taking a stand on issues. But they have been lending support to various causes under extreme pressure. I request the Chief Minister to issue a direction that film personalities should not be arm-twisted to attend social and political events,” Ajith said.

He however said that he attended the function on his own to thank the Chief Minister for his service to Tamils and Tamil Nadu for the past six decades and no one pressurised him to do so.

Reacting to Ajith’s remarks, Karunanidhi said in his address spoke out against forcefully bringing politics into the film world and forcing anyone to take part in such events. Though he did not mention Ajith’s name, the Chief Minister said: “I am against mixing politics with film world, but I could not be held responsible if politics entered on its own.”

Earlier, the function was marked by cultural programmes by various film and television artists. Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Sarath Kumar, Illayaraja, V C Guhanathan and many others spoke.

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