Karthik Subbaraj had confirmed the release of his silent thriller film Mercury on April 13, despite ongoing film industry strike, as it was a no-language fim. Karthik Subbaraj took to his Twitter page citing reasons for releasing the film. He wrote:

"With utmost respect to the protests and bandh, we are postponing the trailer release of #Mercury that was supposed to happen today. However, this film is a Silent film and having a huge release globally on 13th April. And cinema being a bread-winning profession for hundreds of our team members who have put in their sweat n blood into this film, we are in a situation to move on towards the release of the film. Hence the trailer will be released in a day or two. Looking for all your support as always”

Karthik Subbaraj's tweet justifying his move to release Mercury has irked many in the film industry as all of them are going through the same amount of pain as him with no film releases for more than a month. TitTikTik producer Hitesh Jhabak sent out a tweet in reply to Karthik’s tweet questioning his claim on releasing a film on the basis that it has no-language (silent film). He also stated that everybody has put in their blood and sweat for the film and whether he can also mute the dialogues in his film and release it as a silent film with only subtitles.

#TikTikTik Producer. pic.twitter.com/N8g4riOkCz

— Nemichand Jhabak (@JabaksMovies) April 5, 2018

Karthik has mentioned that Mercury will release globally except in Tamil Nadu [Tamil version of the film] in order to support the ongoing strike. While Karthik Subbaraj's decision to release his film is on a constant debate, few questions that have popped up are:

1. How can a silent or no-language film have different versions?

2. How can a film with actors and technicians from Tamil film industry have a release despite its "no-language" claim?