Coming from a situation where the release itself was debateable, Vijay's latest entertainer Mersal has gone on to create and beat records locally as well as internationally! And the best part? The toughest competition is Theri, again featuring the Vijay-Atlee duo.
EOY Entertainment, an online media organization based out in France, took to their twitter to share the ticket records by the film:
"OFFICIAL : #Mersal 20 000 Entries in 5 Days in France 🇫🇷 ! #MersalFrance #Athiradi"
"#Thalapathy VS #Thalapathy first week entries #France
#Theri 15 705 entries
#Mersal 20 183 entries"
Clearly, these are exceptional fortunes for the film, considering the amount of controversy it is currently facing.
Following the latest controversy around a few of Mersal's dialogues and BJP's protests for their removal, H Raja spoke to us in a exclusive interview.
The BJP leader, amongst a lot of things, questioned Vijay's own practices relating to income equality and providing free services. He alleged that a Vijay owned school collects donations of Rs. 1 lakh for the LKG course, and that it contradicts his message in Mersal that a few services ought to be free.
He brought up dialogues in Mersal that stressed equality in medical aid for everyone, ranging from the poorest person to the most powerful/rich. He compared it to Vijay's own salary policies and asked if it would be possible to be paid only as much as the lowest paid individual on set.
Addressing attacks on Vijay's wealth and tax records, he remarked that there is nothing wrong in them. He reasoned that when a star preaches messages to the society in his film, the society gets the right to criticise him politically.
Here is the full interview: