All but two multiplex groups to screen Firaaq in Gujarat

Manubhai Patel had earlier said that multiplexes in Gujarat would not screen the movie due to the financial problems with distributors. “We will not screen Firaaq as the film distributors are demanding more money from us. If the problem is resolved by tonight,we will screen the film from Friday,” he had said.

Elsewhere,Ashok Purohit,the owner of the City Pulse group,said: “We will screen the movie in our multiplexes. We do not have any financial problems with the distributors regarding the movie.”

Firaaq is set over a 24-hour span,a month after the 2002 carnage,and is based on the response of the people after the riots and the fear in their minds. The film has already won seven international awards and critical acclaim at film festivals in various countries.

Nevertheless,the association has always been under pressure from the saffron brigade and the state government not to screen films having either Gujarat riots as the backdrop or those that upset the political higher-ups in the state.

Several films,documentaries and plays before this have seen protests ranging from mild sloganeering to attacks on multiplexes and theatres screening them.

Banning of movies is quite common in the state. More than half a dozen films and documentaries couldn’t see the light of the day.

Dhaad,a low-budget Gujarati film about a man’s battle for water in arid Kutch,also faced difficulties in completion. It had Nandita Das in the star cast. Das had made adverse comments on the handling of the 2002 riots.

Aamir Khan starrer or movies produced by him were also not screened in the state after the actor lent his support to Medha Patkar’s Narmada Bachao Andolan campaign. Two movies featuring him,Fanaa and Rang De Basanti,were not allowed to be screened in Gujarat.

Reel protest

Chand Bujh Gaya: A romantic movie starring Aamir Khan’s brother,Faisal,could not be screened as it was set in the backdrop of the Sabarmati Express carnage. One of the characters had an uncanny resemblance to Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Fanaa and Rang De Basanti: Both movies had problems in screening as the lead actor,Aamir Khan,had supported Medha Patkar’s Narmada Bachao Andloan over the issue of the Narmada dam and farmers’ rehabilitation. When Fanaa was telecast later on a TV Channel,the surveys showed higher ratings for the movie.

Dhaad: A low-budget Gujarati film about a man’s battle for water in arid Kutch,faced difficulties in completion because of the presence of Nandita Das in the star cast. Das had made adverse comments on the handling of the 2002 riots.

Parzania: It is a story of one Parsi family and a community’s loss during the 2002 post-Godhra riots and the act of communal violence that stunned the world and changed the country forever. It was banned in Gujarat.