Chennai: Apparently irked over the censor board's decision to delete a jallikattu (bullfight) scene from the Tamil film Mirugam (Animal), the movie crew went on a fast here today opposing what they called as a "ban on depicting jallikattu in Tamil cinema."

The Censor Board had deleted the scene following an objection by the Animal Welfare Board of India due to alleged cruelty to animals in the sport, film sources said. Movie's Producer Karthik Jai, who along with Director Samy and actor Adhi sat on protest, told reporters that there should be "no ban of any kind on portraying a sport like Jallikattu."

"Jallikattu is a local sport of bravery and there should be no ban on showing it in cinema in future," he said. The team had been furious over the board s action and had earlier announced that the actor and producer of the film would take out a protest march today but it was later dropped with the crew opting to observe fast.

The crew said the scene was one of the most important one in the film, which was released on December 14. The film had its first brush with controversy when actress Padmapriya walked out of the sets after being reportedly slapped by Samy, "for regularly coming late" for shooting.

Following a complaint lodged by the actress, the Producers Council banned Samy from directing any movies for a year. The film portrays the story of a village ruffian-turned-AIDS patient. Samy's earlier venture `Uyir , the story of a young widow trying to seduce her brother-in-law, also ran into controversy over depiction of the female lead.