Kaum De Heere — a Punjabi movie based on assassins of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi — will not hit the theatres on Friday owing to “highly objectionable” content.
The Union Home Ministry, in a communication to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B Ministry), had maintained that the film may affect the communal harmony in Punjab and other northern states.The Ministry had also pointed that some of the content of the film was highly objectionable and may create enmity between communities and lead to communal tension.
The film, which is reportedly based on the lives of the assassins of the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi — Beant Singh, Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh — reportedly glorifies their act.Earlier, the Union Home Ministry had asked the I&B Ministry to review censor clearance to the controversial film.The development came just a day before the movie was scheduled for release on Friday amidst calls for it to be banned for glorifying Indira Gandhi’s assassins. The decision also assumes significance in the wake of allegations that its makers had paid bribes to the film censorship board to get screening permission, after being denied in January this year.
Board’s chief executive officer (CEO) Rakesh Kumar, who was arrested on Monday in Mumbai on charges of charging film-makers to give them clearances, revealed during his interrogation that he got Rs one lakh as bribe from the makers of the film before he cleared it with an ‘Adults’ certificate on May 29 — something categorically denied by the makers of the film.
Expressing serious reservations on the movie’s content, the Home Ministry is yet to decide whether to allow the film’s release on Friday.It has been learnt that the Home Ministry has also sought clarifications on whether the makers of the film are among a group of producers who allegedly bribed the head of the censorship board to get clearances for screening.
At the same time, the political parties, including the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have already indicated their resistance to the movie.Kaum De Heere (Diamonds of the Community) is a story based on Indira Gandhi’s Sikh bodyguards who shot her in 1984 in revenge for Operation Bluestar which saw soldiers entering the Golden Temple, Sikhism’s most holy shrine, to flush out militants holed up there.
While Beant Singh was killed by the police shortly after the assassination, Satwant Singh was hanged later. It is believed that the depiction of Indira Gandhi’s killers as “diamonds” of the Sikh community in the film had sparked protests.
Punjab Congress’ youth wing president, Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary, who has already requested the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop the movie’s screening, said: “I have written to the Prime Minister to stop the release of the film…in case the permission for its screening would not be withdrawn, the Punjab Youth Congress workers would stage protests across the state…we won’t allow its screening.”
In unison, the ruling BJP have also cautioned that the film could endanger public peace and harmony in the border state.“The movie is a conspiracy to jeopardise the hard earned peace of Punjab…. How can the assassins of Prime Minister of a country be the jewelsIJ Those involved in incident of terrorism and indulged in killing of innocents couldn’t be eulogised,” said BJP’s former national vice-president and Punjab’s former cabinet minister laxmi Kanta Chawla.
Chawla had also written letters to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal asking to not screen the controversial movie as “it poses threat to peace of the state”.She has also demanded to hold an “inquiry as to how the Censor Board gave permission of screening of the movie”.
Meanwhile, Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC) president Manjit Singh GK said that the movie was “a reaction to atrocities committed on the innocent Sikhs by the Congress party led government from time to time”.
GK, who has not yet seen the movie, said: “I have not seen the movie but I feel that such movies are reflection of the past, which the Congress party should accept.”Justifying, film’s producer Pardeep Bansal said that the film is based on true incidents, as per the findings of the Justice Thakkar Commission which had probed the assassination of Gandhi. “It is a completely balanced film wherein no religion or sect has been belittled. Some people are unnecessarily trying to create a controversy without watching the movie,” he has said.
The film crew had met the Punjab Home Secretary, who was directed by the Chief Minister Badal to look into the controversy generated by the film. The meeting ended with no result. Meanwhile, the film crew had indicated that they may move the High Court is needed.