Cinema hall owners in UP 'voluntarily' choose not to screen 'Shorgul'

A few months back, Hansal Mehta's Aligarh could not make it to the screens of Aligarh and Bareilly, even though there was nothing official about the 'ban'. And it was not the first time cinema hall owners had chosen not to run a film without an official restriction. Last year, around this time, Miss Tanakpur Hazir Ho was 'banned' by a khap in Meerut, as the members felt the movie 'showed them in a bad light'.Many cinema halls in Meerut did not screen the film after that. Something similar seems to be happening with the film Shorgul (reportedly based on the communal riots in Muzaffarnagar in 2013), with many cinema halls, especially single screens, in several West UP cities deciding not to screen it, despite the absence of any 'ban'.
The movie stars Jimmy Sheirgill, Ashutosh Rana, and Sanjay Suri in lead roles. While the makers have maintained that the film tells a fictional story based on real incidents, it has not stopped people from drawing parallels between the characters in the film and real-life political figures from the state.
The film was supposed to release last week, but because an increasing number of cinema owners and chains refused to screen the film in various cities of UP, the makers were forced to postpone the release by a week. The producers wanted to utilise the time to negotiate with cinema owners, talk to the authorities and find a way to screen the film in the state.
The makers met UP CM Akhilesh Yadav, requesting him for additional security outside halls in the sensitive areas to ensure that the movie could be screened. According to the producers, the CM gave a go-ahead to all theatres across the state to screen the film.
Despite the assurance, however, many cinemas in the state are still not screening the film, citing security concerns. Authorities from the various cities maintain that they haven't issued any order for a ban, and the decision is a 'voluntary' one taken by the cinema owners in their respective cities.

There's no ban, it's the cinema owners' decision to not screen the film
Despite reports about a ban on the film in certain parts of West UP, administrative officials from the region deny there is any. When asked to clarify, Muzaffarnagar district magistrate Dinesh Kumar Singh responded via a text message that said, 'No ban on Shorgul picture in Mzn (Muzaffarnagar).'
Entertainment tax officials in the city say that the so-called 'ban' hasn't been enforced by authorities, but self-imposed by the cinema owners. Ramchandra, an entertainment tax inspector in Muzaffarnagar, says, 'There is no diktat from the district administration or from us. There is no ban. The cinema owners have voluntarily decided not to screen the film because they fear a backlash. It always happens in this region ' when a controversial film is screened, some section protesting its release vandalises theatres. When Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho was screened in Muzaffarnagar despite a diktat from the khap panchayat last year, some protesters vandalised the halls and caused a lot of damage. Cinema owners want to avoid these situations this time.'
The district administration in Meerut had earlier said that there has been a demand from certain groups to have the film banned, and that they were reviewing the decision. Last week, Meerut district magistrate Pankaj Yadav had said that they would try to procure a copy of the film, watch it and then take a decision. While the administration did not go ahead with the ban, many halls nevertheless decided against screening the film.
Even in cities like Bareilly and Agra, many theatres have decided to stay away from Shorgul. While the Agra DM refused to comment on the issue, Gaurav Dayal, district magistrate of Bareilly, says, 'The Bareilly administration has not banned the film and if cinema owners in the city are not screening it, it's their choice. They are welcome to screen or not screen the film. Also, though no cinema owner has approached me yet about this, if any hall wants to screen the movie but fear a violent reaction, we are ready to offer protection.'

There might be trouble, we don't want to take chances: cinemas
Cinema owners and managers from West UP say that threats of vandalism and protests were the reason behind them not wanting to screen the film. Rajeev Kumar, cinema manager at Brij Cinema in Muzaffarnagar, says, 'Nobody is pressurising us to not screen the film, but we had screened a film about the khap a few years ago, after which protesters had vandalised the hall and damaged it quite a lot. This is another controversial film and we do not want to take any such chances again. We also have some responsibility towards the safety of the audience.' A cinema manager from Meerut who did not wish to be named, says, 'It is a political movie. A few weeks ago, we had a group coming to us, 'asking' us not to screen the film. We have options as a number of other movies are releasing around this time. So not screening Shorgul won't be a big loss for us. We don't want any trouble, which is why we decided not to screen the film.'
Managers of cinema chains said that they had relayed their concerns to their superiors and the final call was taken by the respective programming teams. Amit Narula, unit head of Carnival Cinemas in Muzaffarnagar, says, 'The movie is not being screened in Muzaffarnagar. We all know that Muzaffarnagar is a sensitive area and we have to keep things like security in mind.'
Similar sentiments have been expressed in other cities as well, not just Meerut. Jitendra Agarwal, owner of Prabha Cinemas, a single-screen theatre in Bareilly, says, 'Shorgul has been surrounded by controversies from day one and we do not want to get into any kind of trouble. We are looking to do some big business with Sultan, an Eid release, and we do not want to risk our business by screening a controversial movie.' In Agra, Ravi Goyal, owner of Panna Palace, a single screen cinema hall, tells us, 'We have recently renovated our cinema hall and we don't want to get into trouble by screening this movie, which has already run into several controversies. Even the distributors asked us not to take the risk. I don't want to put the cinema hall or our viewers' lives into any danger.'

Producers postponed release by a week
The makers, however, maintain that the film is not based on real incidents or people and just borrows ideas from them. Vyas Verma, the film's producer, says, 'We have repeatedly said that Shorgul is not a depiction of any specific incident or occurrence, but a reflection of what happens in our society. Uttar Pradesh is just the backdrop. The situation is extremely unfortunate and sad. Don't the people of Uttar Pradesh have the right to see what is happening in our country? Every citizen has the right to watch this film ' it raises the voice of the common man.'
The film was supposed to release last week, but after cinema owners in several parts of the state expressed their inability to screen the film, the makers pushed its release by a week, from June 24 to July 1, in a last-minute decision taken on Thursday (June 23) morning. Swatantra Vijay Singh, the film's producer, tells us, 'We have been forced to postpone the release of our film to the July 1. There is a sense of apprehension in the exhibition sector pertaining to the showcasing of the film and a lot of cinema managers have expressed their reservations. Despite our repeated reassurances, certain theatre chains have stuck by their decision not to showcase the film. As first-time producers, we find ourselves handicapped, with minimal support being garnered from the relevant stakeholders. We hope the audience will support us when the film releases.'
With inputs from Manyaekta Gugliani and Mansi Khandelwal