Delhi Sikh Body protests against Anurag Kashyap's Manmarziyaan demanding nationwide ban. Here's why

The Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee is staging a protest on Sunday against this week's release, Manmarziyaan, demanding a nation-wide ban on the film. The DSGMC has alleged that the Anurag Kashyap-directorial has few anti-Sikh scenes which have the potential to hurt the sentiments of the community. 

 

The Sikh committee's protest against the film began at around 2 PM at the Movietime cinema hall, situated in West Delhi’s Raja Garden area. The agitation will be helmed by youth leader Satbir Singh Gagan.

 

Talking to Republic TV, DSGMC president Manjeet Singh GK said that the film should not be screened further until the anti-Sikh content is removed from the movie. He also suggested that the CBFC (Central Board for Film Certification) should recruit a representative of the Sikh community in their team to avoid such matters in the future. 

"Manmarziyaan, starring Abhishek Bachchan and Tapsee Pannu, has been released. I have received reports that this movie has shown some anti-Sikh scenes and they are really objectionable. I strongly protest against this", said DSGMC president Manjeet Singh GK.

“I believe that this movie should not be screened till makers remove the objectionable scenes from the movie. Since ages we have been demanding that the censor board should recruit a representative of the Sikh community in their team but they haven't. We will not tolerate this at any cost and will strongly protest against this movie" he added.

 

Meanwhile, the Delhi police has beefed up the security outside the movie theatre to avoid any untoward incident from taking place. However, team Manmarziyaan has not issued any statement regarding the matter. 

Manmarzian is a romantic drama directed by Anurag Kashyap. The movie hit the screens on Friday and earned Rs. 3.02 crore on the first day of release.

This hardly entails the most recent such protest against a film in recent times. In February 2018, the Karni Sena had also protested against the movie "Padmaavat", alleging that the Sanjay Leela Bhansali magnum opus had distorted history and shown Queen Padmavati in a bad light. 

 

Following violent protests by the Karni Sena, the movie was banned by many states including Rajasthan and Gujarat. Manmarziaan will surely be hoping to avoid a similar fate.