Amid veiled threat by MNS of vandalism at multiplexes if Karan Johar’s “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil” is screened, the producers today sought police protection for the theatres, even as the party stuck to its stand to resist the screening since it features Pakistani actor Fawad Khan.
A team from Johar’s Dharma Productions along with filmmaker Mukesh Bhatt and Vijay Singh of Fox Star Studios met Mumbai Police Commissioner Dattatray Padsalgikar and Joint Police Commissioner (law and order) Deven Bharti, and sought protection for the theatres to screen the film, releasing on October 28.
Mukesh is the president of Film & Television Producers Guild of India while Fox Star Studios is distributing the film.
Assuring all help from their end, Deputy Commissioner of Police Ashok Dudhe said, “Mumbai police will provide adequate protection to cinema theatres as and when required.”
The Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena said yesterday that it would intensify its opposition to Johar’s film as it features Fawad. They issued a veiled threat of vandalism to the multiplexes if they screened it.
The opposition by MNS and some other political parties to films with actors from Pakistan after the Uri terror attack has put a question mark on the fate of Johar’s directorial venture.
“We will oppose the screening of the movie everywhere in the state. If any multiplex operator dares to screen the film, they (operators) should remember that multiplexes are decorated with expensive glass sheets,” MNS leader Amey Khopkar had said yesterday. Sticking to their stand, Khopkar said today, “We will break glasses of film theatres screening the film.”
Tired of being soft target: Anurag Kashyap
Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who was trolled for tweeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his Pakistan visit, today sought to diffuse a row, saying he was not asking the PM to apologise but merely pointing out that film industry was made a scapegoat in the situation.
The 44-year-old director, in series of tweets recently, had questioned why should only Indian filmmakers be targeted for casting Pakistani actors when the PM also made a trip to Lahore last year.
Kashyap said he has to unfortunately “explain my intention behind tweet” as his industry colleagues will suffer for his opinion.
“NO, Anurag Kashyap did not ‘ask the PM to apologise’ (which most of the headlines would want you to believe...), I merely questioned the fairness in judgement of a situation: the PM visited Pakistan for talks at the same time that a filmmaker was working with a Pakistani actor. Neither was aware of future events or mood. Yet only one pays the price,” Kashyap wrote on his Facebook page.
The director, who was speaking against the demand by a section to ban Karan Johar’s film “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil” because it has Pakistani actor Fawad Khan, said people from the industry are always the first to be bullied.
“I am tired of the film industry being soft targets. We are damned if we do, damned if we don’t! When we don’t involve ourselves, they ask ‘why is Bollywood quiet now?’ When we involve ourselves, we become the scapegoats to distract you from the real news. Either way they use us to sensationalise news,” Kashyap said.
“Ae Dil Hai Mushkil” stars Ranbir Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Anushka Sharma in lead roles while Fawad, whose casting has been at the centre of the controversy, is in an extended cameo.
