Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], Dec 7 (ANI): In a big setback to the makers of ‘Kedarnath’, the Uttarakhand government has banned the Sushant Singh Rajput and Sara Ali Khan starrer film from being screened in the state.
On Wednesday, the Uttarakhand government constituted a four-member committee under state Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj to probe complaints related to the movie.
Following the committee’s report, the Uttarakhand government on Thursday decided not to impose any prohibition on the screening of the film.
However, the Tourism Minister today morning informed that the film has been banned in Uttarakhand claiming that it “hurts the religious sentiments of many people.”
“Our committee has forwarded our advice to Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and decided that law and order should be reviewed. We asked district magistrates to maintain peace and everyone has decided that Kedarnath movie should be banned. The movie is banned everywhere in the state,” Maharaj told ANI.
Raising objection over the name of the movie, the minister said, “Millions of people have faith in Kedarnath. This is my personal opinion, I don’t want anyone to play with our sentiments or hurt the religious sentiments of other people. They could have kept any other name of the movie, but not Kedarnath. Some of the things shown in the film are also fictitious and fabricated,” Maharaj added.
‘Kedarnath’ has been at the center of political controversies since the teaser of the Abhishek Kapoor directorial dropped almost two months back.
During the trailer launch of the film in Mumbai last month, Abhishek had addressed the mounting controversy surrounding the movie, saying “When people will watch the movie they will know that there is nothing controversial in it. We have made it with a lot of love and it is about love.”
The flick, which marks the debut of Sara, is set against the backdrop of a catastrophic deluge that hit the Himalayan shrine in 2013.
In the film, Sushant plays the role of a Muslim ‘Pithu’ named Mansoor, who carries luggage and old people on his back, while Sara plays the role of a Hindu tourist pilgrimage, Mukku.
The movie released in the other parts of the country on Friday (December 7). [source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]