DEO receives complaint against Kurukshetra

The big budget film Kurukshetra, produced by Congress MLA N. Munirathna, which is all set to release by the end of this month or early May, has caught the attention of citizens.

The District Election Officer (DEO) has received a complaint that screening the film would give the MLA a political advantage. DEO N. Manjunath Prasad said that he had received a letter sating that Munirathna is a ticket aspirant, and hence, the film should not be released before the elections. Mr. Prasad said that they are yet to examine the matter.

Sources said that this is a grey area and that they are yet to see if the film amounted to political advertisement or, if the candidate in question would benefit in the elections in any manner if it was screened. “We have a media certificate, and a monitoring committee that will look at all publicity material of a candidate. We will have to first see if this passes off as a publicity material,” a source said.

The committee is headed by the DEO, an official from the Information and Broadcasting ministry, and an independent expert.

Mr. Muniratna said that there was no question of influencing voters in the elections as he is not on screen. “Nikhil Kumar, son of H.D. Kumaraswamy, has acted in the film. Other members of the cast, such as Ambareesh, also have political aspirations. I will ensure that the film is not released in constituencies where they are contesting,” he said.

He said that the film has nothing to do with politics or politicians, and is based on the epic Mahabharat.