In what will come as relief to Wunderbar Films, the producer of Kaala and to superstar Rajinikanth’s fans, the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday, 5 June, ordered the state government to provide adequate police protection to theatres for the smooth screening of the film.
Responding to the court’s order, Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said that though he would implement the court’s order as the head of the government, it would be not be “good on part of the producer/distributor to release the movie.”
As head of Karnataka govt, I have to implement direction of high court, it’s my responsibility. But according to my observations as an individual, in this kind of atmosphere it isn’t good on the part of producer/distributor to release the movie.
Wunderbar Films had on Monday, 4 June, filed a petition with the HC stating that the producers would suffer huge losses due to an unofficial ban called by pro-Kannada outfits.
The high court, in its order, has asked the producers to furnish details of exhibitors and instructed the state government to provide security to such places and ensure no inconvenience is caused for the film’s release.
The high court, however, observed that it could not force exhibitors to display the film if they are unwilling to.
However, in an instance where they are willing to screen the film, the state needs to provide security, it said.
A member related to Goldie Films, the distributor for Kaala in Karnataka, said that the film will be screened in all multiplexes. However, they are yet to decide how many single screens will feature Kaala.
Meanwhile, several leaders of pro-Kannada organisations also spoke out against the ban, calling it “futile”.
The Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce too clarified that it had not imposed a ban on the film but the distributors and exhibitors had refused to screen the film.
The Distributors’ Association said that they were against the ban and said that they were not involved in the decision to stop the film’s screening.
A member of Goldie Films had earlier told TNM that several pro-Kannada outfits threatened to vandalise theatres and forcefully stop the screening of the film if they decided to screen it.
“Why should we take this upon ourselves? It's just loss of business. We are in it for money and when there is a very high chance that we will be under loss, it does not make sense to screen the film until the issue is resolved. We are not asking for any kind of ban,” the source said.
However, President of Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha, Vatal Nagaraj has threatened to hold a state-wide agitation and disrupt the screening of the film.
“In Bengaluru, we will protest near Mysuru Bank Circle on 7 June if the movie is screened. We will not allow theatres to screen the film,” he said.
(This article has been published in an arrangement with The News Minute.)
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