The Sambhaji Brigade on Monday stopped the screening of Har Har Mahadev in Pimpri-Chinchwad.With the screening of the Marathi movie Har Har Mahadev being disrupted at theatres in Maharashtra, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has decided to take on the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), whose MLA Jitendra Awhad is among those at the forefront of the protests.
On Monday, the screening of the movie had to be cancelled at three places in Maharashtra. While Awhad and his supporters forced the cancellation of the movie in Thane, the Sambhaji Brigade stopped the screening in Pimpri-Chinchwad. The Sakal Maratha Samaj stalled the screening in Solapur.
Awhad said the filmmakers have distorted history and therefore the NCP will not allow its screening. “History has been distorted in this movie. Even the presentation of Mawlas (footsoldiers) has been depicted wrongly,” Awhad said.
The MNS has hit back, challenging Awhad to force the cancellation of the movie in Thane on Tuesday. “We will screen the movie in Thane. We challenge NCP and Awhad to stall the movie…For 8-10 days, when the movie was being screened, they kept quiet. And now they are protesting,” said MNS leader Avinash Jadhav.
“The NCP stopping the screening of the movie is condemnable. The party is trying to give caste colour to the movie,” MNS spokesperson Sandeep Deshpande said.
The protest over the movie started after Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati, a former Rajya Sabha MP and descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, held a press conference and alleged that history was being distorted in two movies – the recently released Har Har Mahadev and the upcoming Vedat Marathe Veer Daudale Saat.
“The films have distorted historical facts about Shivaji’s life. Har Har Mahadev has given its own twist to history. Such distortions will not be tolerated in the name of cinematic liberty. We strongly oppose their screening,” he said.