Amid protests Vijay-starrer Kaththi gears up for “police protected” Diwali release

Karunamoorthi, one of the producers of ‘Kaththi’, directed by famed director A R Murugadoss, told the Indian Express the the movie will be released on Wednesday as per schedule and police protection is ensured to prevent any untoward incident.

R Paneerselvam of the Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners Association also confirmed the release of the movie on Wednesday. Responding to the reports of threats from Tamil organisations, he said the police always give protection for all mega star movies.

Read: All issues over release of ‘Kaththi’ resolved, says actor Vijay

The movie is to be released in about 430 screens across the state and advance booking was supposed to begin at 7 am on Tuesday. After a statement from ‘Kaththi’ producers on Monday night claiming that all issues had been cleared and that the movie would release on Deepavali, Tamil groups said they are not aware of any such decision and that they stand by their protest. Soon after the producers had announced the advance bookings for the movie on Monday night, Sathyam Theatres and Woodlands Theatre in the city were attacked by miscreants.

A leading Tamil director said it is the responsibility of the state to give protection for screenings when there are such threats.

When the issue arose in the last week of August 2014, former Madras high court judge Justice K Chandru had told Indian Express that the state cannot plead its inability to handle the hostile audience problem. “It is its obligatory duty to prevent such threats and attacks and protect the freedom of expression. Freedom of expression which is legitimate and constitutionally protected, cannot be held to ransom by an intolerant group of people,” he said quoting a Supreme Court order in 1989.