Apoorva Mehta, the CEO of Dharma Productions which produced Ae Dil Hai Mushkil starring Pakistani actor Fawad Khan, along with Mukesh Bhatt, who is the president of the Film and Television Producers’ Guild of India, on Thursday met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to demand security for theatres that screen the film.
The release of the film, which also features Ranbir Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai and Anushka Sharma, has hit a hurdle with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena saying it won’t let any movie featuring Pakistani artistes to be released in India. Subsequently many single-screen theatres associations refused to screen it.
Mr. Singh is learnt to have assured the Producers’ Guild of security to the multiplexes and theatres that screen the movie. After the meeting, Mr. Bhatt said the Home Minister had assured them a safe Diwali release of the film.
“We are entertainers. We are interested in working with artistes, and not in whether they belong to Pakistan, China or Africa. But the film isn’t releasing just in Mumbai. We want to safeguard ourselves, so who better than the Home Minister? It is his domain,” Mr. Bhatt said.
“India is a free country, but at least you should not stop people violently. That is something I feel the government of today should have zero tolerance towards: violence,” he said.
The Maharashtra government, however, has assured protection to cinemas where the film will be screened from Diwali weekend.
