New Delhi: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting addressed Tamil actor Vishal's accusations against the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). In response to the accusations, the government ordered an investigation into the matter on Friday. Vishal released a video on his official X account in which he claimed the CBFC officials asked for a payment of Rs 6.5 lakh in order to screen and give his movie, 'Mark Anthony', a U/A certificate.
The I&B Ministry stated on X (previously Twitter) on Friday morning that a senior MIB officer has been sent to Mumbai to do further investigations.
"The issue of corruption in CBFC brought forth by actor @VishalKOfficial is extremely unfortunate. The Government has zero tolerance for corruption and strictest action will be taken against anyone found involved. A senior officer from the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has been deputed to Mumbai to conduct an inquiry today itself," the tweet read.
"We request everyone to cooperate with the Ministry, by providing information about any other instance of harassment by CBFC at jsfilms.inb@nic.in," it further read.
In a post he made on the social networking site X, Vishal revealed the cost of the Hindi version of the film as two payments of Rs 3 lakh for the screening and Rs 3.5 lakh for the certificate.
#Corruption being shown on silver screen is fine. But not in real life. Cant digest. Especially in govt offices. And even worse happening in #CBFC Mumbai office. Had to pay 6.5 lacs for my film #MarkAntonyHindi version. 2 transactions. 3 Lakhs for screening and 3.5 Lakhs for certificate. Never faced this situation ever in my career.
The action-comedy movie Mark Antony was released on September 15. In the movie directed by Adhik Ravichandran, Vishal and S. J. Suryah co-star in a dual role alongside Ritu Varma, Sunil, Selvaraghavan, and Abhinaya.