19 December,2010 07:10 AM IST | | Subhash K Jha
Director Sangeeth Sivan's 332 Mumbai To India, a film about Rahul Raj, the young man from Patna who wanted to "kill" MNS chief Raj Thackeray, was released this week. But producer Sivan says the film has been put through two levels of censorship; "oneu00a0 constitutional, another unconstitutional". It has been released in just a handful of theatres in Mumbaiu00a0 amidst heavy security.
Until late on Thursday night, Sivan and director Mahesh Pandey had no clue about the screenings and show timings. "Theatre owners didn't want to tell us outright that they were under threat. I can'tu00a0 blame the exhibitors. Which theatre would risk being vandalised? We are to provide security to every theatre screening 332. We are a small production house. How can we afford costly security arrangements?" asks Sivan
The producer says, two days ago an MNS spokesperson watched the film. He questioned Sivan about why certain characters were referring tou00a0 Mumbai as Bombay. "I tried explaining to them that migrants still address the city as 'Bombay'," says Sivan, who finally had to add a disclaimer at theu00a0 start of the film, regretting the use of the term 'Bombay'.
"This, after the film had been officially censored! We had no choice but to comply since the prints had already been sent out. What is the point ofu00a0 making a film on a topical issue when you have to watch helplessly as exhibitors and audiences stay away because they don't want trouble? I might as well go back to making films like Kya Kool Hain Hum," he says about the comedy that he refused to make a sequel of, since he wanted to take on a realistic subject.
As if political pressure was not enough, Sivan has had to deal with Rahul Raj's father who is upset that his son hasn't been portrayed as the hero of the film. "We never claimed to have made a film on Rahul Raj! We wanted to capture the larger picture, the uneasy relationship between Mumbai and migrants," says Sivan.
