Listening to PM Modi's speech last evening on Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes becoming illegal tender overnight, fans of Tamil cinema may have experienced an aha! moment.
Watch this clip from Vijay Antony's Pichaikaran, a film written and directed by Sasi that released in March 2016. This character who plays a beggar gives his gyaan on why 500 and 1,000 rupee notes should be declared illegal to prevent black money circulation and corruption!
When asked how to eradicate poverty in India, he says, "The poverty in our country is because of bribe money, corruption money, and tax evasion. All the money that's earned and hidden like this is in the denomination of 500 and 1,000. Only 20% of people in the country use 500 and 1000 rupee notes. The rest of the 80% have one or two 1000 rupee notes and are searching for coins.
“If it’s a 1000 rupee note, even 100 crores can be contained in two big suitcases. If it is 100 rupees or 50 rupees, a big house will be needed! It won’t be safe.”
People will be scared of robbery, problems with the police, income tax issues, they won't invest in gold because there's no price stability. If they decide to invest in real estate, they'll be worried that when the goverment changes, their land will be seized. There's no other way but to put it in the bank. But if they put it in the bank, they have to pay tax. If all the rich people in the country paid their taxes honestly, not just poverty, even beggars won't be there in this country!"
Watch:
And of course, nothing happens in the universe without Rajinikanth knowing about it earlier. Sivaji – the Boss written by Sujatha and directed by Shankar, ended with the same solution to put an end to the black money menace. This was in 2007.
One of the Superstar's many fan pages on Facebook shared the following clip.
And Kamal Haasan, who has predicted a number of things in his films, from the Tsunami to the Ebola virus, had an inkling about the 500 rupee note becoming valueless way back in 1997. Here's him making paper boats from currency notes in "Pachaikiligal tholodu" from "Indian" (also directed by Shankar).
Tamil cinema, daaa!
(This article has been published in an arrangement with The News Minute)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)