Vishal Krishna saves Rajinikanth's 'Kaala' from catastrophe
Mumbai, June 7: Vishal Krishna, who is cresting the box office with his Tamil/Telugu digital-crime thriller "Irumbhai Thirai"/"Abhimanyudu", has proved to be a real-life hero for superstar Rajinikanth by averting a major digital crime just in time by getting an overzealous Thalaiva fan arrested in Singapore while he was pirating "Kaala".
Vishal, who has lately become a prominent voice of the Tamil film industry and who heads Tamil Nadu Films Producers' Council (TFPC), said: "It could have been a major crisis," after the incident on Wednesday.
"'Kaala' is a big film for us. Rajini Sir is coming back after two years. To our horror we got to know through our sources in Singapore that a man in the Cathay multiplex was live-streaming 'Kaala' on Facebook."
Vishal and his team swung into action immediately
"We got the man arrested after he had streamed 40 minutes of 'Kaala' on Facebook. (This was prior to its release in India on Thursday). The important thing was to take action without delay. That we managed to do."
"It wasn't an easy job. We had to push really hard for his arrest as this was a crime committed outside India. But now that it's done, the arrest sends out the right signal to all potential piracy offenders who may not even be aware that they are guilty.
"Lots of people think recording scenes and songs on their phone is okay. But it is not okay. It is a serious crime. We want the potential offenders to know we have zero tolerance for piracy in any form. If we want to save the film industry we need to stop talking and start acting," he said.
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Trouble ‘Miyas’ everywhere only then they will leave Assam: Himanta Biswa Sarma
Says “Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP are openly against them, we are saying it openly
New Delhi: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said that four to five lakh “Miya voters” would be removed from the electoral rolls in the state once the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists is carried out. He also made a series of controversial remarks openly targeting the Miya community, a term commonly used in Assam in a derogatory sense to refer to Bengali-speaking Muslims.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an official programme in Digboi in Tinsukia district, Sarma said it was his responsibility to create difficulties for the Miya community and claimed that both he and the BJP were “directly against Miyas”.
“Four to five lakh Miya votes will have to be deleted in Assam when the SIR happens,” Sarma said, adding that such voters “should ideally not be allowed to vote in Assam, but in Bangladesh”. He asserted that the government was ensuring that they would not be able to vote in the state.
The chief minister was responding to questions about notices issued to thousands of Bengali-speaking Muslims during the claims and objections phase of the ongoing Special Revision (SR) of electoral rolls in Assam. While the Election Commission is conducting SIR exercises in 12 states and Union Territories, Assam is currently undergoing an SR, which is usually meant for routine updates.
Calling the current SR “preliminary”, Sarma said that a full-fledged SIR in Assam would lead to large-scale deletion of Miya voters. He said he was unconcerned about criticism from opposition parties over the issue.
“Let the Congress abuse me as much as they want. My job is to make the Miya people suffer,” Sarma said. He claimed that complaints filed against members of the community were done on his instructions and that he had encouraged BJP workers to keep filing complaints.
“I have told people wherever possible they should fill Form 7 so that they have to run around a little and are troubled,” he said, adding that such actions were meant to send a message that “the Assamese people are still living”.
In remarks that drew further outrage, Sarma urged people to trouble members of the Miya community in everyday life, claiming that “only if they face troubles will they leave Assam”. He also accused the media of sympathising with the community and warned journalists against such coverage.
“So you all should also trouble, and you should not do news that sympathise with them. There will be love jihad in your own house.” He said.
The comments triggered reactions from opposition leaders. Raijor Dal president and MLA Akhil Gogoi said the people of Assam had not elected Sarma to keep one community under constant pressure. Congress leader Aman Wadud accused the chief minister of rendering the Constitution meaningless in the state, saying his remarks showed a complete disregard for constitutional values.
According to the draft electoral rolls published on December 27, Assam currently has 2.51 crore voters. Election officials said 4.78 lakh names were marked as deceased, 5.23 lakh as having shifted, and 53,619 duplicate entries were removed during the revision process. Authorities also claimed that verification had been completed for over 61 lakh households.
On January 25, six opposition parties the Congress, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad, CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(M-L) submitted a memorandum to the state’s chief electoral officer. They alleged widespread legal violations, political interference and selective targeting of genuine voters during the SR exercise, describing it as arbitrary, unlawful and unconstitutional.
