Opinion | Conspiracy theories about I-T sleuths, a political flashback and Kollywood's other demons

Tamil superstar Vijay's date with Income Tax department sleuths is not at all surprising. Tax sleuths are entitled to search any premises or question all and sundry regardless of the halo of stardom or political affiliations, isn't it?

Talk doing the rounds after I-T sleuths swooped down on a film financier who promoted Vijay's Bigil reeked of vendetta. Unfair right? We have had a former finance minister behind the bars and many top bureaucrats who faced redemption in confinement. So what is the vendetta here.

Ideally, there should be none.

The I-T sleuths' reported version is that the actor's remuneration for Bigil was listed as a key expense in the books of the financing firm and a whopping sum was seized in searches conducted on its premises.

So it is only natural for authorities to summon Vijay for grilling and the actor obliged gracefully, even if it meant cancelling the shoot of his upcoming movie Master.

But the truth, as a key BJP functionary tweeted in 2017 after Vijay's blockbuster Mersal, is bitter.

Flashback to 2017 when Vijay's blockbuster Mersal hit the screens and swallowed the box office. That was almost a year after Prime Minister Modi's demonetisation bombshell shook the nation.

There were dialogues by Vijay and co-stars mocking GST, demonetisation, digital India and many other pet BJP fixations.

Naturally the Sangh camp was irked.

The key BJP leader earlier referred to even went to the extent of tweeting Joseph Vijay's voter ID card to drive home a foul point: Truth is bitter, he tweeted. Yes you heard it right, Joseph Vijay.

For the uninitiated, the bitter truth referred to here is 'Joseph', the insinuation being that the sarcasm of a star's movie stems from his religious belief.

And the detractors in the Sangh camp perceived it as an anathema to their belief.

Regardless of the unwarranted controversies stoked by fringe elements, Mersal rocked the box office.

Sarkar and Bigil followed suit and Joseph Vijay is now the de facto crowning star of Tamil.

Rights of his upcoming movie is the most prized possession in South Indian film industry.

Moving on to conspiracy theory, we have a star with a known saffron slant eulogising the virtues of the Citizenship Amendment Act the same day. No issues as every one is entitled to their opinion in this democracy. But the same voices were conspicuous by absence when the nation was gripped in the vortex of hatred and the resultant bloodshed. And when many other perceived injustices ripped through the vast swathes of this nation.

Do you smell a rat?

If you don't there is something more rotten in your premises.

Or is it the case of selective amnesia? Conspiracy theories never die down. So we move on to the next theory that is a favourite theme which resonates across the length and breadth of Tamil Nadu. That is about the super star's probable political foray.

Now if you throw in a flash back, BJP leaders had alleged after the Mersal row that Vijay had political ambitions and hence his diatribes against GST et al.

That is akin to making a blanket statement that if an actor has political ambitions his works should not reflect that.

Now, we may kick the conspiracy theories to the outposts of Kodambakkom, but in one swoop, the I-T sleuths and their political masters have ensured the box office glory of Master.