Padmaavat faces protests in UP including Lucknow

LUCKNOW: Members of the Shree Rajput Karni Sena and other Hindu organisations on Wednesday created havoc in several parts of Uttar Pradesh including the state capital, Lucknow, protesting against the release of controversial Bollywood film Padmavaat.

A student of the Lucknow University was also detained by the police for attempting to immolate himself. Six others were detained for creating trouble by Lucknow police outside a multiplex.

The protestors charged at a Lucknow based multiplex in

Gomti Nagar

area that had pre booked tickets to the film for premier shows to be held on Wednesday evening. The premier show at the wave cinemas in Gomti nagar was finally cancelled by its authorities.

Protests were also reported from Faizabad, Allahabad and Gorakhpur.

As news of multiplexes prebooking tickets for Padmaavat for premier shows on Wednesday evening went around, members of fringe outfits including that of the Karni Sena gathered at Wave cinemas in Gomti Nagar. Heavy police and private security was deployed at the theatre to keep off the protesters who shouted slogans of 'Jai Bhawani'.

Though the film is slated to be released on Thursday, a number of multiplexes are to hold premier shows in the evening in Lucknow which enraged angry protesters.

"We had kept aside 200 seats for the premier show before the release tomorrow and 20 people had pre booked it. But now we are cancelling it looking at the chaos being created," said an official of wave cinemas.

Parijaat, a member of the Lucknow unit of the Karni Sena said, "we protested for long at the wave cinemas and we will not let the film be screened anywhere. A meeting will be held with Hindu organisations and the evening show at

PVR Sahara Ganj

will also be prtoested."

Members of various outfits opposing the film shaved their heads in protest. The Rashtriya Hindu Sena protested in Allahabad and several others took out a protest march in Gorakhpur against the screening of Padmaavat.