PK to be tax-free in UP

Fadnavis rejects move to probe movie contents, promises security to halls screening 'PK'

Even as the Bajrang Dal continued with its protests outside cinemas screening Aamir Khan-starrer PK on Wednesday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis ruled out any probe into the Hindi movie’s content. Fadnavis’ statement came a day after Ram Shinde, Maharashtra minister of state for home, had said he had asked the state police to probe the content of the film. Fadnavis also promised security cover to cinemas screening the film.

Meanwhile, Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh (UP) exempted the film from entertainment tax. “Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has watched the movie and directed that such films should be exempted,” said a senior officer.

The VHP slammed the UP government for its decision to declare the film tax-free.

While the Rajkumar Hirani-directed film, released on December 19, continues to run successfully in cinemas across the country, activists of the Bajrang Dal, youth wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), vandalised some cinema halls in Bhubaneshwar in Odisha on Wednesday. According to the Bajrang Dal and VHP, the film “hurts the sentiments of Hindus”. “We had written to the Censor Board, the home ministry and even the Lok Sabha speaker,” said Vinod Bansal, spokesperson, VHP. “We started the protests after waiting for state governments and law enforcement agencies to take action.”

Last week, the Supreme Court had also dismissed petitions praying that the film be banned for hurting religious sentiments of Hindus. Central Board of Film Certification chief Leela Samson, too, rejected demands that some scenes be removed.

Rajyavardhan Rathore, minister of state for information and broadcasting, said the Centre had no legal right to restrict the viewing of the film and freedom of expression was enshrined in the Constitution.

On Tuesday, Hirani had issued a statement saying the film upheld the true spirit of religion, while condemning “only the abuse” of it. Khan, who plays the protagonist in the film, has also reacted to accusations of him having “insulted” the Hindu religion because he was a Muslim. “We respect all religions. All my Hindu friends have seen the film and they have not felt so,” Khan said.

Protests have taken place, effigies of Khan burnt, and cinema halls vandalised at some places in Odisha, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Haryana and Delhi.

Bajrang Dal’s Delhi unit leader Neeraj Doneriya demanded the government probe the filmmakers’ “links with Pakistan’s spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence”.