By Subhash K. Jha
Mumbai, May 3 (IANS): Earlier this week, Feroz Abbas Khan's bold and unapologetic film "Dekh Tamasha Dekh" on communal divide was stopped from being screened in the heart of Mumbai city, hours before the scheduled time. What baffled the disbelieving director was that it was a private screening.
Talking of the incident, he said: "I don't know how it happened. I've no clue how these people came to know about the screening of my film. I don't even know which organization they owe their allegiance to because they didn't tell us."
The filmmaker had organised a screening of the film at Eros Cinema near his house for some friends Wednesday evening. However, at around 4 p.m., a group of people descended on the theatre asking the management if there was a screening of the film.
"I don't know whom they got the information from. This was a private screening," said the director.
"When they were told about the screening, they started screaming slogans and shouting against the film. The theatre management had no choice but to stop the screening," he added.
The main reason, as he understands it, is that the intruders don't wish the film to be shown on TV.
"Basically they don’t want the film to be shown on TV which is a bigger medium. I still wonder how can they stop the screening like this. All of a sudden this happened, and I didn't want any complications, so we cancelled the screening, Khan told IANS.
The TV screening of "Dekh Tamasha Dekh" is yet to be finalized.
"We have reason to worry because I think the protests are going to spread. I think these fundamentalist organisations have now woken up to what my film is trying to say," he said.
He says the protesters were so far clueless about the film's content.
"By the time they realized what my film was about, that it discusses the communal divide frankly, the film was already out of the theatres. So I feel they'll now seek out other channels of disruption, like the private screening that I was going to have on Wednesday, and the television premiere," he said.