Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; December 8, 2018)

A ban has been imposed on the screening of the film Kedarnath in seven districts of Uttarakhand, in view of protests by Hindu outfits, a senior official said on Friday. Citing a difficult law-and-order situation ahead, the District Magistrates concerned have asked for the screenings of the film to be suspended. The districts where Kedarnath has been banned include Dehradun, Haridwar, Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar, Pauri, Tehri and Almora, ADG (Law and Order) Ashok Kumar said. Religious outfits have taken offence to the Hindu-Muslim love story in the film that features Sushant Singh Rajput and debutante Sara Ali Khan, and is directed by Abhishek Kapoor. Some of the groups felt that it promoted the idea of love jihad and hence, must be banned across the state.

On Thursday, the Uttarakhand High Court dismissed a public interest litigation seeking a ban on the movie. “Don’t see the movie if you don’t like it. We are not the Censor Board. We are a democracy and everyone is free to exercise their rights. State shall ensure law and order is maintained,” the bench said.

However, according to an order passed by one of the district magistrates, the reason to stall the screenings stems from the fact that there have been several demonstrations, people have been doing dharnas and narebaazi outside cinema halls, posters of the film were recently torn off cinema buildings by protestors and all these incidents could snowball into a bigger security threat if the film is screened.