A Congressman today sought a ban on screening of Sivaji-the Boss, the Tamil film starring superstar Rajnikant, for allegedly defaming UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The Congressman, M Satyamoorthy, today filed a PIL in the Madras High Court, seeking the ban on the plea that the film portrayed Gandhi and Singh along with the villain, intending to defame them and the Congress.

The PIL,which is likely to come up for hearing tomorrow, also sought Rs 50 crore from Rajnikant, film producer A V M Saravanan and Director Shankar as damages to the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee for “defaming” the leaders in the movie.

He said the villain, named Aadhikesavan, was the head of a private university and was shown exploiting the public by collecting crores of rupees as capitation fees. He said the hero, who wanted to start a university to give free education, approaches the villain for guidance. In that particular scene, a photograph on the table showed the villain standing in between Gandhi and Singh, he said.

The petitioner contended that the photographs, which was shown four times in the movie, gave an impression that the villain belonged to the Congress party and the leaders were supporting his activities. ‘

Rajni fans lathicharged in Madurai

MADURAI: Rajni fans were lathicharged at two places in the city when they indulged in violence to protest against the last minute decision of a few theatre owners to cancel the special show of Sivaji for them. Police said the fans who were waiting for more than 12 hours, got annoyed when the screening of the movie was cancelled at Villapuram and Pethaniapuram. They hurled stones and blocked the road traffic forcing the police to resort to lathicharge. Police said only two persons suffered minor injuries in the lathicharge while the others managed to flee. They said fans had been waiting in long queues in front of the theatres throughout Sunday night. However, the film reels arrived only early this morning and the first show could be started just before noon. Fans in the district celebrated the release of the film by performing 'abhishekam' on the cutouts, bursting crackers and lighting lamps and burning incense sticks.