A case that has seen immense talk on social media among Tamil cinema fans of late has been regarding the controversy surrounding 'Thalapathy' Vijay's Rolls-Royce Ghost car, which the actor had imported from England in 2012. Vijay had filed an appeal requesting the court to exempt him from the entry tax for his luxury car despite having made the payments, including providing up-to-date documents. The car's exemption case that had been ongoing all these years had come up before single judge S.M. Subramaniam on July 13, who imposed a fine of Rs. 1 lakh on Vijay, while also coming down harshly on the superstar for his request for a tax exemption. 

In his order, the single judge stated, "Those fans see such actors as real heroes. In a state like Tamil Nadu, where such actors have become rulers of the state, they are not expected to behave like a ‘reel hero’. Tax evasion is to be construed as an anti-national habit, attitude and mindset and unconstitutional." On July 27, a bench panel headed by Justice M Duraiswamy and Justice R Hemalatha at the Madras High Court had issued an interim stay against the order that labeled the actor as "anti-national", while also informing him to pay the remaining 80% of the tax in a week once a fresh notice from the commercial tax department is provided. 

Meanwhile, the original case had come up for hearing before Justice S.M. Subramaniam on Wednesday, who questioned Vijay's legal counsel in regard to the Rs. 1 lakh fine that had been ordered to be paid towards the Tamil Nadu COVID-19 relief fund. Vijay's lawyer stated that the actor had already paid Rs. 25 lahs to the state's coronavirus relief fund in 2020 and had no intention to make any further payments for the same. The single judge then made a note of Vijay's advocate's statements in the appeal today and issued orders for the case to be closed in his court. As an interim order had been passed earlier on Tuesday, a final resolution will be given by the division bench with the hearing set for August 31.