Members of the Indian National Congress gatecrashed an event in Pune which was showing Madhur Bhandarkar’s Indu Sarkar.
Madhur Bhandarkar took to Twitter on Saturday and uploaded photos of the Congress party members stalling the event, and questioning his freedom of expression.
Congress workers hv barged in the Hotel lobby & created ruckus,me & team are stranded like hostages in hotel room. #pune activity cancelled. pic.twitter.com/6GHX1VHGD8
— Madhur Bhandarkar (@imbhandarkar) July 15, 2017
Its baffling to see self proclaimed custodians of #freedomOfExpression creating huge ruckus to prevent a legitimate release of #InduSarkar pic.twitter.com/orJVVJULdp
— Madhur Bhandarkar (@imbhandarkar) July 15, 2017
Commissioner Rashmi Shukla stepped in to help the film’s team to safety.
Thank u for your timely intervention Commisoner Rashmi Shuklaji @PuneCityPolice & spl thanks to DCP Mundeji for ensuring safety of my team.?
— Madhur Bhandarkar (@imbhandarkar) July 15, 2017
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
Speaking about what happened, Bhandarkar told IANS, “We are like hostage in the hotel room. The hotel management asked us not to step out as the cadre is here since 1 PM. Since the last three hours, we have been locked in one room. My whole team is in the room.”
The film’s team had reportedly planned to visit Suryadatta Institute of Management & Mass Communication on Saturday for the promotional event. The film’s spokesperson said, “We received a call from Sanjay Chordiya from Surya who had arranged the whole press conference. He urged us to cancel it as they received a threat from local Congress party workers. As soon as we got to know, we cancelled the event.”
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Unfettered, Bhandarkar confirms that he would still release the film in Pune. “I will release the film all over India and I think people who talk about freedom of expression should stand for this now. This is the time.”
This isn’t the first time a local Congress body opposed the film. Said to be focusing on the lives of the Gandhis and the Emergency period in India, Indu Sarkar last week faced opposition from the Indore City Congress Committee too. Senior ministers Vivek Khandelwal and Girish Joshi from the committee wrote to Cine Circuit Association and Cine Gruh Sanchalan to stall the release of the movie. The committee fears that though the film claims to be fictional, it could mislead people as it is inspired by real people.
Bhandarkar, after Pune, was scheduled to head to Nagpur for a promotional event for the film. It has since been cancelled, with him claiming that there’s some sort of hooliganism taking place.
Dear @OfficeOfRG after Pune I have 2 cancel today’s PressCon at Nagpur.Do you approve this hooliganism? Can I have my Freedom of Expression? pic.twitter.com/y44DXiOOgp
— Madhur Bhandarkar (@imbhandarkar) July 16, 2017