A religious group taking offence to the use of a religious verse in a movie song is nothing unusual. Only this time, the protest is also getting personal.
A day after Bajrang Dal activists protested the singing of a remix version of Hanuman Chalisa verses in a rock concert sequence in last week’s release London Dreams, US-based Universal Society of Hinduism has jumped to its support taking a dig at the Censor Board chairperson Sharmila Tagore and claiming that the increasing presence of the explicit scenes in present day movies is “simply for mercantile greed and has nothing to do with cinematic elements”.
On Monday, a group of Bajrang Dal members protested the Hanuman Chalisa sequence in the Salman Khan-Ajay Devgn starrer, and even insisted on stopping some shows in Raipur in Chhattisgarh.
Unaware of the latest developments, the film’s director Vipul Shah says, “it’s unfair to protest a film that has been passed by the Censor Board”. But taking up the cudgels on the group’s behalf Rajan Zed, president of the Society, has appealed to CBFC chairperson Sharmila Tagore to “view the films [she clears for the Board] as a regular Indian mother who was struggling to raise her children to become moral and successful citizens of the India of tomorrow and not as the mother whose children attend night-clubs and late-night parties and knew no moral boundaries.”
While Tagore is out of the country, when contacted an CBFC official said, “Why get bothered? It’s a clichéd argument that violence and vulgarity are increasing in Hindi films.”
with inputs from Ians
While Tagore is out of the country, when contacted an CBFC official said, “Why get bothered? It’s a clichéd argument that violence and vulgarity are increasing in Hindi films.”
with inputs from Ians