Yesterday, Ajendra Ajay, a member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) media relations team, accused Abhishek Kapoor’s next film Kedarnath (2018) of promoting ‘love jihad.’
He wrote to Prasoon Joshi, chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), asking a ban on the film that allegedly hurts ‘religious sentiments’.
Love jihad is a term used by some Hindu extremist groups to describe a supposed campaign run by Muslim men to feign love with and target women from other communities to convert them to Islam.
The makers of Kedarnath, which stars Sushant Singh Rajput and Sara Ali Khan, commented on Ajay’s reaction to the film during the trailer launch in Mumbai today.
Producer Ronnie Screwvala said only the CBFC matters. “Firstly, I would like to clarify that till date nobody has approached us. Secondly, our onus is to get the film censored. They [the CBFC] are the single and sole body that represents this. Thirdly, we are all creative people. We are all Indians first. So, I don’t think there is anything in the film. Most of the movies that get into controversy, it only starts before they see the movie,” he said.
Screwvala also wondered how someone could form an opinion based on the teaser (the trailer had not been released then). “I don’t know how after 60 seconds of watching something somebody forms an opinion,” he said. “Our job is to go to the censors. As far as we are concerned, let somebody comment after they see the movie. We would be happy to get the feedback.”
Abhishek Kapoor echoed this view. “You have just seen the trailer. Before this, just the teaser was released. Different people make their own interpretations from the teaser. Different perspectives are made. Slowly more things about the film will open up and they will see the film,” he said.
The director assured that people will not find anything controversial in the movie. “After watching the film, they will realize there is nothing problematic. There is a lot of love and shraddha [faith]. I don’t think people will be disappointed,” Kapoor said.
Kedarnath is scheduled to be released on 7 December. Watch the trailer below and let us know if you will watch this film in the theatres.