The Tamil remake of the Hindi runaway hit, Munnabhai MBBS, stuck in a legal row for the past week, finally got the nod from the Madras High Court today. With the court giving its crucial approval of the film’s controversial title, Vasool Raja MBBS (collection king MBBS), the Kamal Hassan-starrer is all set to release on Independence Day.The title had invited the ire of the TN Medical Council, which challenged the Censor Board certification for the movie in the high court, saying it was ‘‘defamatory to the entire medical fraternity’’. Disposing of the petition filed by Dr K.R. Balasubramaniam of the Tamil Nadu Medical Council this afternoon, Justice A.K. Rajan said: ‘‘Just like the Hindi version of the film, the Tamil title, Vasool Raja, did not refer to every medical practicioner as a collection agent.’’ According to the judge, the ‘‘name in singular could be a pet name of an individual’’.The judge said that the court could not determine whether the title was defamatory by exercise of its powers under Article 226 of the Constitution. The Central Board of Film Certification could refuse certification only if it came to a conclusion that the film was defamatory to the ‘‘medical fraternity’’ as a whole.This is not the first time that Kamal Hassan’s films have run into trouble for their controversial titles. The title of his last home production had to be changed after angry outfits threatened to stall its shooting. With the state government, too, not pitching in with police protection, the film-maker decided to change the name from Sandiyar (village ruffian) to an innocuous Virumandi, which has had a decent run at the theatres so far. His latest film, Vasool Raja MBBS, is produced by Gemini Films, which had bought the rights for remakes of the movie in South Indian languages.
