Santhanam's last role as a hero was in the horror comedy "Dhilluku Dhuddu 2" earlier this year but he seems to be starring in a real life horror with the onslaught of criticism from the public in regards to the first look poster for his upcoming film, "Dagaalty".

The so-called offensive poster was released last month and shows him smoking although the cigarette can barely be seen as it is covered by the actor's hand.

Nevertheless, it is seen as though the film is promoting smoking and in a recent press meet for "A1", Santhanam finally spoke up about the "Dagaalty" matter and apologised for the poster.

But first, talking to the press about "A1" he said, "The first person who said this film will come good was Santhosh Narayanan sir. Tara has performed really well in this film as a Brahmin girl. It took us sometime to figure out who would be able to perform the role perfectly and we finally chose Tara."

"I would like to thank my family, friends, relatives and colleagues for supporting me throughout the journey, if not for their support I wouldn't have been able to achieve what I have over the years. It has become a huge challenge to release Tamil film these days."

"If we plan to release a film, there are so many hurdles that we need to face, so I request everyone to go watch films in theatre and not online, because there is so much hard work behind making a film. We have tried our level best not to hurt others' sentiments in the film."

"Comedy happens only when there is a conflict between two characters. It was only because of that we chose this script involving a local boy and a Brahmin girl. To do a comedy film you need a lot of freedom, if there are too many restrictions then it won't be ideal to make a comedy film."

"I understand we shouldn't hurt anyone, someone pointed out that the 'Dagaalty" poster promoted smoking, I apologised. But if you point out everything you just can't make comedy films. Bollywood, Telugu industries are doing extreme things for comedy, but here we are being pointed out for everything."

The comedy film "A1" is about a local boy falling in love with a Brahmin girl and is expected to be released on 26 July.

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Source: Times of India
Photo Credit: Times of India & English Tupaki