Saffron groups attack halls screening Aamir Khan's 'PK'
NEW DELHI: Saffron outfits led by Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Monday disrupted the screening of Aamir Khan-starrer PK at various places demanding that objectionable scenes "insulting" Hindu deities and rituals be deleted from the film.
Incidentally, BJP's senior-most politician and film aficionado LK Advani had praised PK as a "wonderful and courageous film".
In Ahmedabad, protests went violent as over 50 Bajrang Dal activists stormed and vandalised two theaters, Shiv and City Gold Multiplex. Though the miscreants fled before the police arrived, sources said the activists have been identified through CCTV footage. "Two complaints have been lodged against city Bajrang Dal chief Jwalit Mehta and 50 others, including some from VHP. We will arrest them soon," said inspector RV Desai.
Filmmaker Karan Johar tweeted, "Attacking a duly censored film has to stop!!! What kind of a democracy are we living in?? No film should be targeted or be allowed to..,#PK.
Miscreants burned posters outside Milan cinema in Surendranagar, where the film was being screened, and forced a shutdown of the movie hall for the day. In Rajkot, saffron activists hit the streets against the film.
In Bhopal, sangh parivar activists raised slogans against Aamir Khan and jostled with cops outside Jyoti Talkies in Bhopal. Bajrang Dal and VHP have given a 24-hour ultimatum to the film's producers for removing "anti-Hindu" scenes. "It has become a habit with Bollywood to hurt the sentiments of Hindus. They insult our gods and show our spiritual gurus as villains. Why don't they make a film based on Imam Bukhari and his anti-national statements?" asked VHP-Bajrang Dal spokesman for central India Devendra Rawat.
In Delhi, police said they had beefed up security around several theatres on Monday after violent protests at Rivoli cinema in Connaught Place on Sunday when miscreants had smashed the theatre's window panes. However, a PVR spokesperson described this as an isolated incident, saying, "The audience has appreciated the film and we are taking appropriate steps to ensure security."
The Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha, in news for its campaign to install Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse's bust at different places, demanded a total ban on the film. "PK appeases Muslims and insults Hindus. The film promotes love jehad," said Mahasabha general secretary Munna Kumar Sharma in a statement.
Reports of protests and disruption poured in from Kanpur, Allahabad and Agra in UP. A Lucknow-based Hindu outfit, Hindu Front for Justice, has filed a PIL in a local court, demanding a ban on the film. The petition will be heard on January 5.
All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) member Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali has demanded that the Censor Board remove objectionable scenes so that communal harmony is not disturbed.
He said the atmosphere in the country was being vitiated and small matters were blown out of proportion over issues like 'love jihad' and conversions. "If a film has material that hurts religious sentiments, especially when it has a Muslim actor playing a Hindu, it has the propensity to be misread," Firangi Mahali said.
In Mumbai, Bajrang Dal-VHP workers held protests at 18 locations in Andheri, Ghatkopar and Sion on Sunday. However, the organisations are neither demanding that theatres stop screening nor that the film be banned. Not yet, at least.
(With inputs from Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Lucknow, Mumbai and Delhi)
