The Congress workers forced the cancellation of the shows of Madhur Bhandarkar’s controversial film Indu Sarkar in many theatres across the State on the day of its release on Friday.
The Congress workers, who had earlier this month staged protests in the cities of Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur and prevented the promotion of the film by Bhandarkar, were at their aggressive best as they either forced the theatre owners to cancel the shows of Indu Sarkar or disrupted the screening of the film.
Following the protests, the owners of four theatres in former CM Ashok Chavan’s home town of Nanded, cancelled all the shows of Indu Sarkar on the first day of its release.
Similarly, the Congress workers forced the cancellation of the film screening at a theatre in Thane’s Korum Mall, Kalyan’s INOX theatre, Fame theatre at Nashik and Natwar multiplex theatre at Jalgaon.
At all these places, the Congress workers staged massive demonstrations against the controversial and raised slogans against the filmmaker. At Jalgaon, the protesters tore the posters of the film.
At Thane, the Congress workers, led district party president Manoj Shinde, barged inside the INOX Cinema in Korum Mall and raised slogans condemning the film and Bhandarkar.
Having climbed on the stage near the screen, the protesters also shouted slogans against the NJP-led governments in Maharashra and at the centre.
Talking to media persons, Shinde charged that Bhandarkar, acting apparently at the behest of the BJP, was trying to tarnish image of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who had contributed a great deal to the country. “We will now allow the film to be screened,” Shinde said.
With no alternative, the theatre owners cancelled the show and refunded the ticket money to viewers.
Set against backdrop of Emergency, “Indu Sarkar” has characters inspired by late Mrs Indira Gandhi and her younger son Sanjay Gandhi. Apprehending that the film might portray its leaders in a poor light, the Congress workers have been protesting against the film for nearly a month now.
The Congress had earlier this month disrupted the promotion of the film by Bhandrakar at Pune and Nagpur. The Congress workers had also staged protests in front of the office of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) against “contentious portions” in the film.
It was Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam who had triggered a controversy early this month by shooting off a letter to CBFC chairman Pahlaj Nihalani, raising serious concerns about “Indu Sarkar” which, he apprehended, might have shown late Mrs Gandhi and her son Sanjay Gandhi in a poor light, and demanded that the film shown to the Congress functionaries before it was censored”.
“The trailer of the film says it is a film on Emergency and hence we can see the likes of our beloved leaders like Indira Gandhi ji, Sanjay Gandhiji & senior leaders of Indian National Congress. We therefore want to be certain that our leaders are not shown in bad light & hence would like to see the film before it is censored,” Nirupam had stated in his petition to the CBFC chairman.
On its part, the CBFC had suggested 12 cuts and two disclaimers in the film. It has also remanded that words like RSS, Akali, Jayaprakash Narayan, PM, IB and Communist be removed from the film. It is not clear if the filmmaker has carried out the deletions suggested by the CBFC.