Bhatt moves SC for Fanaa screening

NEW DELHI: Film director Mahesh Bhatt and a Gujarat NGO Jansangharsh Manch moved a petition in the Supreme Court on Thursday, seeking police protection for multiplexes wanting to screen 'Fanaa' in Gujarat.

Screening of the film has been facing violent protests in Gujarat following its actor Aamir Khan's support to those displaced by the Narmada dam.

The Supreme Court told petitioners' counsel Colin Gonsalves that the Public Interest Litigation would be heard in `due course'. No specific date was given for its hearing.

The petition sought a direction to the state DGP to ensure uninterrupted screening of the film which was released in the rest of the country last Friday.

The petition said organisations like the BJP Yuva Morcha (Gujarat) and the Congress- affiliated NSUI (Gujarat) were opposing the release of the film without any reason.

It alleged that the Gujarat government had either directly connived with these organisations or deliberately refused to act to stop them from adopting violent and illegal means to disrupt its release in the state.

Referring to earlier incidents of violence during the release of some other films like 'Fire', 'Water' and 'Kissa Kursi Ka', the filmmaker said such tendencies had grown unchecked, giving anti-social elements and political parties the impression that the law cannot touch them.