Protests in Kota against Rani Mukerji movie

Kota: Rani Mukerji-starrer ‘Mardani-2’ has landed in trouble after the release of its trailer. Protesters in Kota, a city famous for its coaching institutes, have

Kota: Rani Mukerji-starrer ‘Mardani-2’ has landed in trouble after the release of its trailer. Protesters in Kota, a city famous for its coaching institutes, have demanded a ban on the movie for ‘defaming’ their city. The movie centres around police’s hunt for a serial rapist and brutal murderer in Kota. Rani Mukerji plays the role of the policewoman in the film, set to release on December 2.

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Kota MP and Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla has also objected to the film, saying that no one has the right to distort the image of the city. “Some organisations have approached me and demanded a ban on the film. They said that film makers are trying to defame Kota. The incident upon which the film is based, is fictitious. So why did they have to drag Kota’s name in and malign the city?,” Birla asked.

Kota Corporator and BJP leader Gopal Ram Manda and BJP IT cell office bearer, Mayank Sethi, too, submitted a memorandum to Om Birla on Friday, demanding a ban on the Yash Raj Films production.

Sethi and Manda alleged that no such brutal rape and murder as shown in the film ever occurred in Kota. “Kota city is an education hub with several coaching institutes. But the film trailer shows the city in a poor light,” Manda said.

Leaders of the Congress and the Rashtriya Rajput Karni Sena, too, objected to ‘Mardani-2’, with the latter’s vice-president Manjit Singh Nathawat challenging the film makers to ‘tell us when the rape shown in the film was committed in Kota’.

In November 2017, the Karni Sena and other Rajput groups demanded a ban on ‘Padmavat’ for disrespecting Rajputs and showing Rajput queen Padmini in a poor light.

Spokespersons of Yash Raj Films, which made Mardani-2, were unavailable for comment.