The Hindu

• Some social organisations are said to have forced the cinema owners to remove the film

Mangalore, Mar 31: “Jodhaa Akbar” has made a silent exit from a cinema here for the second time, owing to pressure from certain social groups.

The Ashutosh Gowariker’s film, starring Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai, has been replaced by a Kannada film, “Gaalipata”. Jodhaa Akbar, which was scheduled for two shows a day, was screened only on Friday.

First time

Sources in the cinema, on the condition of anonymity, said Jodhaa Akbar was earlier screened from February 16 to March 5. “But in the first week of March, we received representations from some organisations to stop screening the film for alleged historical inaccuracies. We stopped screening it from March 6,” the sources said.

The cinema, in its weekly schedule announced on March 27, had stated that the film would be screened at 2.30 p.m. and 6.15 p.m., daily.

Sudden change

However, through a newspaper advertisement on Sunday, the cinema announced that it was screening Gaalipatta on public demand. There was no mention of Jodhaa Akbar in the revised film listing released by the cinema. The sources confirmed that the film had been removed owing to pressure exerted on it by some social organisations.

Patrons’ safety

“We did not want to jeopardise the safety of our patrons by overlooking the opposition to screen the film,” the sources said.