By PTI

CHENNAI: The South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce (SIFCC) today said it has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani, seeking action against BJP leader H Raja for reportedly watching Tamil film 'Mersal' online.

Referring to Raja's remarks reported in a section of media in this regard, SIFCI President L Suresh said that the BJP National Secretary had "confessed" this in a section of the media.

SIFCI is the apex body of studio owners, producers, distributors and exhibitors from all the southern states.

Raja "confessed before a press reporter that he saw the aforesaid Tamil film on the internet, which is obviously a pirated version," Suresh said in a statement.

The BJP leader was "liable to be prosecuted" for this under the Tamil Nadu Video Piracy Act, he said, adding SIFCI had already made a complaint to the grievances cell of the PMO.

"We have also written an official letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani, requesting them to take suitable action against Mr H Raja for seriously violating the Piracy Act," he said.

The complaint against Raja "may be treated in a steadfast manner" by the PMO, he added.

He wondered what would happen to the cinema industry if leaders watched pirated versions of films.

On BJP's demand for deletion of mocking references to Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 'Mersal,' starring Vijay, he said as per "several" court decisions, once a movie had been certified by the Censor board, a producer need not make any changes thereafter "at the whims and fancies of any political party or community leaders." Raja had courted controversy yesterday when he reportedly said he had watched 'Mersal,' online, drawing rebuke from actor Vishal, who heads the Tamil Film Producers Council.

Vishal, also general secretary of South Indian Artistes' Association (SIAA), had demanded an apology from Raja.

However, Raja had clarified that he had only watched clips of the movie on his mobile phone.

Piracy is one of the major issues being faced by the multi-crore Tamil cinema industry, with films being uploaded on certain websites soon after their release.

The availability of pirated CDs and DVDs of new films is also an issue.

Actor Vijay's fans have been reportedly circulating the contentious scenes, allegedly mocking the central government's Goods and Services Tax (GST), through mobile phones.

Diwali release "Mersal" has kicked up a row with the BJP taking exception to references on GST in the movie.

BJP leaders, including Raja, a national secretary in the party,state president Tamilisai Soundarajan and Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan, have been demanding that the "incorrect" references be deleted from the big-budget flick.

However, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, his senior colleague P Chidambaram, DMK working president M K Stalin, veteran star Kamal Haasan and a host of Tamil cinema industry representatives had supported the film crew on the issue.