Team Herald
PANJIM: Hundreds of people across Goa who wanted to watch Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film Padmaavat were disappointed as few theatres in the State screened it on Thursday. Many film buffs returned frustrated from multiplexes and single screen theatres as there were no shows of the film.
Many people said that prior intimation would have prevented them from going to the theatre in the hope of watching the film.
Despite there being no prior indication of any possible law and order situation in the State, the biggest theatres in Goa did not screen the film. Inox that has multiplexes in Panjim, Porvorim, Margao, and Z Square that has 17 screens in the State, did not show the film.
However, in Vasco and in Ponda, theatres screened the film on Thursday under police protection and drew huge crowds.
General Manager of Inox-Panjim, Joseph Pereira said the decision was taken by the head office of Inox following the association of multiplexes having decided not to screen the film.
Pravin Zantye, proprietor of Z-Square, said they decided not to screen Padmaavat so as to avoid any untoward incident during the screening.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had earlier this month said the government would not interfere if the filmmakers get a certificate from the Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC). “If the filmmaker gets a censor certificate, then in principle, I have no objection to it but I will definitely check if there is something going to be wrong on law and order front,” he had said before the movie got a fresh screening date.
Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan banned the screening of Padmavat following the violence. There were also violent incidents reported in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and some other States.
On Wednesday, members of the radical Karni Sena, a group of upper caste Rajputs, forced movie theater owners in Patna not to screen Padmaavat threatening widespread violence ‘if they hurt the sentiments of the proud Rajputs’.
