south-maharashtra - Bright Media Pakistan - Latest News, Entertainment & Lifestyle

Padmaavat faces a total blackout on the day of its scheduled release on Thursday in at least four big states — Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Bihar — with cinema and multiplex owners firm against screening the movie. In Uttar Pradesh, another big territory for Hindi films, cinema owners are in a dilemma. However, cinema and multiplex owners in the five southern states and other big states like Maharashtra and West Bengal are going ahead with the screening as per schedule. In Gujarat, a day after mindless vandalism and arson by mobs of Rajput groups in Ahmedabad, Gujarat Multiplex Owners Association, Cinematograph Exhibitors' Association of Gujarat and Multiplex Association of India declared that the film will not be screened in the state. "The association has decided not to screen Padmaavat in 120 cinemas across Gujarat, including 32 in Ahmedabad, till a compromise is reached between Karni Sena and film producers," said GMOA chief Manubhai Patel. Almost all cinema halls across the state had put up notice boards outside their premises informing audiences about the no-show. A virtual repeat of the Gujarat was played out in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh where Central Cine Circuit Association announced it couldn't release the film in the wake of threats of violence by MP Rajput Samaj, which is spearheading the campaign against the film. CCCA president Jai Prakash Chaukse said: "We'd have liked to release the movie, but have decided not to risk life and property. The state government has failed to assure us security and seems to be backing groups opposed to the release of the film." In Rajasthan, the epicenter of protests against Sanjay Leela Bhansali's film, cinema and multiplex owners had already decided against screening the film. Though no official stand was taken by their counterparts in Bihar, there are no takers for releasing the film in the eastern state too. The Multiplex Association of India said it has decided not to screen the film in four states. "We have decided not to play the film in four states—Rajasthan, Gujarat, MP and Goa—as the local management has told us that the law and order situation is not conducive," Deepak Asher, president of the association, said. However, Padmaavat will have a smooth ride in south India. The distributors, Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, are releasing the film in three languages — in its original version in Hindi and dubbed in Tamil and Telugu. "As on Wednesday evening, it is getting released in about 600 screens across the five southern states," a source in Viacom 18 Motion Pictures told TOIon condition of anonymity. “Padmaavat has been declared fit for public exhibition in the cinema houses without any excision by Central Board of Film Censors (CBFC),” Mobashir Hasan told IANS via social media from Islamabad. The movie has been given ‘U’ certification. According to some distributors in Pakistan, there were apprehensions over the movie given the negative portrayal of Alauddin Khilji. Asked about it, Hasan said, “CBFC isn’t biased in arts, creativity and healthy entertainment.”