No Screening of Kangana's Film 'Emergency' in Punjab

SGPC and several Sikh bodies held protests against the movie outside cinemas, multiplexes and malls in the state

- HT Correspondents

AMRITSAR/BATHINDA/JALANDHAR/MOHALI: A day after the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Harjinder Singh Dhami demanded Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann to ban actor-director and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut's film Emergency as it 'defamed the Sikh community', cinema theatre owners steered clear of screening the movie in the state on Friday.

The SGPC, an apex gurdwara body, and several Sikh organisations held demonstrations against the movie outside cinemas, multiplexes and malls across the state.

The film, which sees Ranaut playing the role of former prime minister Indira Gandhi, focuses on 21 months of Emergency from 1975-77. The political drama, in controversy over its censor certificate and allegations that it misrepresents the Sikh community, was released across the country on Friday after several delays.

Seeking a ban on the eve of its release, Dhami wrote to Mann, accusing the film of being "politically motivated with an aim to defame Sikh community". Activists of Sikh organisations held protests outside cinema halls on Friday morning against the movie.

Most cinemas in Ludhiana, Amritsar, Patiala, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Bathinda did not screen the movie. Police force was deployed outside the malls and cinemas in the state.

Jalandhar commissioner of police Swapan Sharma said security has been beefed up in and around cinema halls across the city. "We have held meetings with the authorities concerned of multiplexes and cinema halls for not playing the movie as it will create a law and order situation," he said.