NEW DELHI: NCP boss Sharad Pawar seems to have got back at Congress over the price rise missiles aimed at him during last week's meeting of the Congress Working Committee by egging on Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray to revive his opposition to Shah Rukh Khan-starrer `My Name Is Khan'.
The Sena's chief's U-turn on MNIK after having dropped his objections to the film is seen as a fallout of Pawar's calculated move to meet Thackeray on Sunday, ostensibly to dissuade him from opposing inclusion of Australian players in IPL 3. Pawar claimed he was only wearing his cricket cap when he met Thackeray.
Pawar's "offer" to make a presentation on IPL and presence of BCCI chief Shashank Manohar at the Thackeray residence buoyed the Sena chief and left Congress fuming. Pawar threw a lifeline to Thackeray just as the Sena chief was isolated over attacking SRK's comment that he would have liked Pakistani cricketers to be in IPL. It also came just as Sena also had its thunder stolen by Rahul Gandhi's ride in a Mumbai suburban train.
Congress sources said while MNIK's producer-director Karan Johar was promised adequate protection for the film when he met Mumbai police commissioner D Shivanandan on Tuesday, he and SRK might also meet chief minister Ashok Chavan on Wednesday. "If the police assurance is strong, the meeting with the CM may not happen. But it needs to be seen how secure the producer and exhibitors are feeling," said sources.
With what is seen to be a wink and a nod from Pawar, apparently smarting from the CWC flaying him for price rise, the Sena supremo is back in business. Exhibitors in Mumbai were told of plans to disrupt the film. Panicked exhibitors approached SRK who swiftly got in touch with Congress leaders seeking protection for the film's release on Friday.
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4 comments:
If there is any iota of truth in this news report, then it is despicable that Sharad Pawar is resorting to these kind of cheap politics, even though it may not be a surprise.
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Indian police can protect Rahul/Varun Gandhi, let Pakistan protect SR Khan'
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
The problem for Shahrukh Khan's Pakistan position, which slipped out of his tongue, is that at the end of the day, even as he vouches for an enemy state Pakistan whose citizens are looking to kill Indian police and armymen; to get his film My Name is Khan released, he now has to call for help and has to take security cover of those very same Indian police and perhaps armymen, whose sacrifice and service he was trying to undermine by vouching for Pakistan despite 26/11.
Oops.
This is called irony. Not a good position to be in if you're Khan. His supporters have tried to link him to Rahul Gandhi, but unfortunately Rahul Gandhi and Shahrukh Khan are two different situations altogether. Rahul Gandhi was vouching for Uttar Pradesh and Bihar last week and generally India for Indians, a position that's generally not too unpopular, even in Maharashtra. Though his sincerity can be questioned as it was his party that allowed MNS, which unlike Shiv Sena was committing treason, nonethless Rahul Gandhi was not head of congress in 2008, and his connection to UP through his father Rajiv Gandhi is legitimate, nor his concern for rest of India in substantive doubt as yet.
In fact Rahul Gandhi's position on Pakistan, is a lot closer to Varun Gandhi than it is to Shahrukh Khan. Had Rahul Gandhi pulled a SRK on Pakistan, his visit to Mumbai too would not have gone safely for him. The sainiks didn't go after Rahul Gandhi not because they were afraid but simply because the guy's position on Pakistan was the same as theirs more or less. That's the bottom line.
Cops in plainclothes at theatres for My Name Is Khan !
Mumbai: Shah Rukh Khan’s new release My Name Is Khan will have some unusual regular viewers: plainclothesmen on the job. In a move to beat the Shiv Sena at its own game, policemen will buy tickets so as to be stationed inside theatres. Sena activists are expected to book tickets in advance to create trouble.
Karan Johar, the film’s producer and director, said the police had assured a trouble-free screening of the movie. Earlier, he and some distributors met police chief D Sivanandhan to discuss the issue.
“He has assured us of security at all theatres and multiplexes where the movie will be screened. Advance booking has started and we are on board for the Friday release,’’ Johar said.
He, however, refused to comment on the Shiv Sena. ‘’There was some miscommunication, but there is no issue now,’’ he said.
The police, on their part, said security would be provided to all theatres and cine-goers. “Though we would not like to discuss the pattern of security, we assure that there will be adequate police protection,” said joint commissioner of police, law and order, Himanshu Roy. He said the city police has asked for additional forces like the SRPF for deployment. “There will be high-level frisking and checking at all theatres,” he added.
When asked what will be police measures in case Sena activists
buy movie tickets in advance, Roy said, “We have thought about this too. The police might ask for identity cards from cinema goers, if required. Policemen will be present in plain clothes in theatres.”
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We will not allow screening of My Name Is Khan till SRK apologises: Bajrang Dal !
The Orissa unit of the Bajrang Dal on Tuesday threatened to disrupt the screening of Shah Rukh Khan's movie My Name Is Khan across the state if the actor does not apologise for his alleged "pro-Pakistan" statement.
"We will not allow the screening of the film in the state," Subash Chouhan, national co-convenor of the Bajrang Dal, told IANS.
The much-awaited film, which is slated for a global release on Feb 12, is already facing threat from the Shiv Sena in Mumbai. Sena activists on Tuesday attacked some theatres in the city where the film is to be screened.
"Shah Rukh has behaved like an agent of Pakistan by advocating the cause of Pakistani cricketers participating in the Indian Premier League," Chouhan said.
A senior state police official, however, said anybody attempting to disrupt the film's screening would be dealt with as per the law.
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