Times of India / Agencies

New Delhi, Dec 1: The comeback film of actress Madhuri Dixit courted further trouble on Saturday with Punjab and Haryana governments banning its screening offended by controversial lyrics in a song and the National Commission for Scheduled Castes also issuing summons.
  
The two states followed Uttar Pradesh, which on Friday night ordered that the film be taken off theatres, even as the Centre ruled out a country-wide ban of Aaja Nachle.

Taken aback by the ban in UP, which has a sizeable Dalit population, the film’s producers, Yash Raj Films, on Saturday apologised for the lyrics and said immediate action was taken to delete the objectionable words. The lyrics of its title song were deemed offensive to certain communities, according to statements by the state governments concerned. The National Commission for Scheduled Castes decided to issue summons to the film’s producer, director and all those associated with the controversial lyrics and ask them to submit affidavits explaining their position, commission chairperson Buta Singh said.

Relief for the film-makers, however, appeared to be in sight with the UP government saying the ban in the state will be lifted after verifying that the controversial lyrics are removed from the song. The film got support from censor board chief Sharmila Tagore, who said she was ready to apologise if the sentiments of any community were hurt, but stressed there was no reason for the film to be banned.

The issue came up in the Lok Sabha by Ramdas Athawale (RPI), who alleged that the title song of the movie humiliated dalits. He was supported by Mohd Salim of the CPM.