'Complete harassment': Kangana after SGPC calls for ban on 'Emergency'

Bollywood star Kangana Ranaut on Friday said the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee's (SGPC) demand for a ban on "Emergency" and the film's restricted screenings in parts of Punjab is a complete harassment of art and the artist.

On Thursday, SGPC chief Harjinder Singh Dhami wrote to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann demanding a ban on the movie, which released across the country on Friday. 

Many cinemas in Ludhiana, Amritsar, Patiala and Bathinda did not screen "Emergency" after members of the SGPC protested against the movie. Police force was deployed outside the malls and cinemas in the state.

"This is complete harassment of art and the artist, from Punjab many cities are reporting that these people are not allowing Emergency to be screened.

"I have utmost respect for all religions and after studying and growing up in Chandigarh, I have closely observed and followed Sikh religion. This is a complete lie and propaganda to tarnish my image and harm my film #Emergency," Ranaut, a BJP MP from Himachal Pradesh's Mandi, said in a post on X.

The 38-year-old actor-director was reacting to a post by Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira, who supported the call for a ban on "Emergency", saying that Ranaut is a known critic of "farmers & Sikhs without knowing their contribution towards our country".

"SGPC is our elected representative body and @BhagwantMann should take immediate steps to ban the film that depicts Sikhs in bad light and brings defamation to our state of Punjab and its people," he said.

The political drama, which sees Ranaut playing the role of former prime minister Indira Gandhi, focuses on 21 months of Emergency from 1975 to 1977.

"Emergency", in controversy over its censor certificate and allegations that it misrepresents the Sikh community, was released across the country on Friday after several delays.

In August last year, the SGPC sent a legal notice to the film's producers, alleging that it "misrepresented" the character and history of Sikhs, and asked them to remove objectionable scenes depicting "anti-Sikh" sentiments.