Exhibitors have decided not to release 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil' fearing MNS threat: Ashoke Pandit

Filmmaker Ashoke Pandit, who is a member of the Indian Motion Pictures Association, on Friday said that the exhibitor have taken a call not to release 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil' fearing that it will suffer huge losses in wake of the MNS threat.

Pandit told ANI, "The films which were under production and the films which are already complete should not be touched because the people who have invested in the films are Indians, the makers are Indians except for one to two who are from Pakistan, who will have the last laugh because they have taken the money and they have gone back."

"I feel that if the theatre owners, if the exhibitors are feeling insecure, they should have approached the government of Maharashtra and a proper security should have been taken because I very strongly feel that this is a wrong trend that somebody decides the fate of the film industry sitting in his office and he says that this film should not be released," he added.

Earlier in the day, the Cinema Owners Exhibitors Association of India (COEAI) decided that films with Pakistani artistes will not be screened.

"We have decided that we will not screen these films (with Pakistani actors)," COEAI president Nitin Datar said.