Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has jumped into the middle of the box office clash between Vijay Krishna Acharya’s multi-starrer Hindi film Thugs Of Hindostan and Abhijeet Deshpande’s Marathi film Ani… Dr Kashinath Ghanekar.
In a Facebook post, Ameya Khopkar, chief of MNS’s Chitrapat Sena (the party’s cine wing), has accused the state’s multiplexes of favouring the Hindi period-drama and have demanded that they allot more shows to the Marathi film.
Without naming the Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan-starrer, Khopkar has even threatened the multiplexes of an ‘MNS style agitation’ if the demand is not met.
“Last warning ! Attention – all Multiplex owners in Maharashtra. We will not tolerate injustice made to the Marathi movie And Dr. Kashinath Ghanekar by denying screens and shows to favour Hindi films. We give you 24 hours to correct this mistake. Give screens and shows to And Dr. Kashinath Ghanekar else we will teach a lesson with a Manase style agitation [sic],” Khopkar wrote.
In December last year, Khopkar had issued a similar threat to the multiplexes when Salman Khan’s Tiger Zinda Hai (2017) was about to clash with the Ankush Chaudhari’s Marathi film Deva (2017).
We tried contacting the producers of Ani… Dr Kashinath Ghanekar for their comments but they were unavailable.