Shah Rukh Khan's Latest Movie Screened Under Tight Security

NEW DELHI, Feb 12 (Bernama) -- Mumbai, home of India's glamorous Bollywood, today began to screen its superstar Shah Rukh Khan's movie 'My Name is Khan', under a cloud of fear, stoked by right-wing activists.
The movie was slated for screening nationwide on Friday morning but many cinema owners, fearing violent backlash from the Shiv Sen, a Hindu nationalist group in India's western state of Maharashtra, refused to screen the film.
"The police have agreed to deploy personnel but the atmosphere is risky. We are simple people and would not be able to deal with violence if there is any," Pune Film Exhibitors Association president Sadanand Mohol told The Hindu newspaper.
The Shiv Sen has accused Khan of pandering to Pakistani cricket players and demanded an apology. The actor has refused.
In retaliation, the political party, led by its aging leader Bal Thackeray, has been targeting Khan's new movie -- tearing down posters, vandalising cinema halls and burning effigies of the actor.
This morning, several leading cineplexes backed out from screening the much-awaited movie, despite assurances from the state government and the police to beef up security.
But Khan's fans began queuing up for the afternoon shows as cinema owners decided to screen the movie.
About 11,000 policemen have been deployed in Mumbai, following threats from Shiv Sen leaders, and about 2,000 activists have been detained as a preventive measure.
The threats have spilled over to neighbouring states and multiplex owners are reluctant to screen the movie, for fear of riots and vandalism of their properties by activists.
The entire controversy erupted after Khan said that Pakistani players should be included in the upcoming Indian Premier League.
But there's nothing funny about the Sena's threats. "The Shiv Sena is one of the most extreme faces of Hindu nationalism," says Edna Fernandes, whose book holy warriors explores religious fundamentalism in India. "Its leader, Bal Thackeray, is like a godfather. His modus operandi is to whip his people up to a frenzy, and then it's up to them what they do. He can be charming in person, but at the other end of the line you've got people getting murdered in Muslim communities. It's not a joke.Going after celebrities, says Fernandes, is part of the Sena pattern. In the past, its targets have included artist MF Husain and cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. Husain's studio was ransacked, as was a television station that defended Tendulkar. Several of the station's staff were beaten up. In 2008, a Sena splinter organisation, the MNS, pilloried Jaya Bachchan, wife of veteran Bollywood A-lister Amitabh Bachchan, for speaking a few words in Hindi rather than a Marathi film premiere.
Indian celebrities, including the Bachchans, have often caved under such pressure. So far, Khan has not. He continues to put forward a moderate line, with a dignity you might not expect from a 44-year-old man whose career consists largely of dressing up in tight trousers and miming to someone else's vocals. Fellow megastar Aamir Khan, whose recent film 3 5diots smashed multiple box-office records, has stepped in to support him. The Sena termed both men the "2 Idiots", and its supporters burnt them in effigy. "A large section of India finds the Sena repugnant," says Fernandes. "India wants to see itself as a modern economic power. These communal conflicts are hugely damaging to that." If Khan surrenders today, the Sena will find another example of free speech and tolerance to besiege tomorrow. The message of My Name Is Khan is that extremism must be challenged. This weekend, we will see whether Bollywood's reality lives up to its talk.

tunku : just because the actor said that pakistani players should be included in their cricket league,the shiv sena group are making havocs in india.it was not a religious issue at all.that shows how intolerance they are.Malaysian should be glad that here we are more tolerance,even with religious issue things are still under control.i think if the actor had touched religious issue, he must have been killed by now.i still can't forget how a 400 years old mosque was demolished by this radical group in india just to show that they are the superior.we should take this as a lesson in Malaysia.