Movie screenings are the first casualty of language wars in India; the latest victim is Rakshit Shetty starrer Avane Srimannarayana. As a fallout of increasingly vocal war of words between factions of pro-Karnataka (Karnataka Rakshana Vedike) and pro-Maharashtra activists, the film’s screening in Kolhapur’s Apsara Theatre was stopped by members of Shiv Sena.
The Newsminute reported, “On Sunday afternoon, members of the Shiv Sena began to blacken the name boards of restaurants and commercial establishments, that were written in Kannada, in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur, which borders Belagavi in Karnataka. The situation turned worse when Shiv Sena activists barged into Apsara Theatre in Kolhapur and stopped the screening of Kannada film Avane Srimannarayana, starring Rakshith Shetty.” The piece also said that “The first show of the film had already begun when Shiv Sena activists forced the theatre managers to stop the screening. A hoarding of the movie was brought down and the theatre was locked down.”
