Dilwale screening stalled for fourth day in Mangaluru following protests

Protests against Shah Rukh Khan for his comments on intolerance in India have blocked screening of his latest film with Rohit Shetty, Dilwale. With theatre managements showing reluctance in taking police protection to screen the SRK-Kajol-starrer, the film continued to be off the screens in Mangaluru for the fourth day on Thursday.

Protests against Shah Rukh Khan for his comments on intolerance in India have blocked screening of his latest film with Rohit Shetty, Dilwale. With theatre managements showing reluctance in taking police protection to screen the SRK-Kajol-starrer, the film continued to be off the screens in Mangaluru for the fourth day on Thursday.

Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol during the Sneak Preview of Dilwale in Mumbai on Dec 11, 2015. (IANS)

Saffron briged activists demonstrating against movie Dilwale on Friday, December 18, in front of Samdariya Mall multiplex in Jabalpur. (Hindustan Times)

City Police Commissioner S Murugan told reporters that even after he held a meeting with theatre managements on December 22 offering protection to screen Dilwale, their response was not positive. Some of them even refused to take protection, he said. Meanwhile, Co-ordinator of Citizens Forum for Mangalore Development Vidya Dinker shot off a letter to state Home Minister G Parameshwara to immediately seek a report on the present law and order situation in the coastal region and ensure centralised monitoring of investigations into such incidents.

Read: Dilwale review

Dinker in her letter said police action on ‘immoral policing’ in Dakshina Kannada district seemed to be inadequate though the city police commissioner had taken some initiative. Dinker said she had received offensive comments in the social media after she filed a complaint against Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists for forcibly stopping the screening of Dilwale. The comments, allegedly posted by Bajrang Dal city co-convener Puneeth Raj Kottari on his Facebook account, were later removed after she sent a link to the city police commissioner, Dinker claimed.

Activist of Hindu Sena held a protest against the screening of the Shah Rukh Khan starrer Dilwale at Delite Cinema Asif Ali Road in New Delhi on December 18, 2015. Shah Rukh had earlier said that ‘religious intolerance and not being secular is the worst kind of crime that you can do as a patriot’. (Sonu Mehta/ Hindustan Times)

Read: Won’t apologise for comments but regret Dilwale collections were affected, says SRK

In a statement here, VHP Dakshina Kannada district President Jagadish Shenava said they were not continuing with the protests as the theatre owners themselves were not ready to screen the movie. Protests would be held if they attempted to screen it, he said.

Read: Not being secular is the worst crime as a patriot, says SRK

Shah Rukh Khan was at the vortex of controversies after his remarks on “rising intolerance” in the country raised the hackles of right-wing outfits.