Padmaavat row: Delhi pulls off movie release peacefully

As the neighbouring states were rattled by the repeated incidents of violence following the protests against Padmaavat, Delhi managed to pull off early morning screenings of the movie peacefully, across the city. 

Head of Hindu Sena, a religious group, who had allegedly threatened of violence against theatres, was detained and is being questioned. Most of the theatres went house full and audience praised the movie brushing aside any controversial scenes as alleged. 

Never have any malls and theatres in the Capital seen the heavy presence of security personnel, who were deployed on Thursday at various places. Keeping in view the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in the Capital and the Republic Day celebrations, the Delhi Police had made full arrangements for the smooth release of the movie in the city. Even though there was a certain amount of fear in the minds of people, a large number of them came out to catch the first day, first show. 

Akash Khurana, a resident of Gujarat, who had come for a trip to Himachal Pradesh decided to take a pit-stop in Delhi and watch the film as it is banned in Gujarat. 

“I came for the first show at 8 am. The movie doesn’t show anything offensive. In fact, it only shows upliftment of the community. Everything has been shown positively,” added Khurana. At malls in South Delhi’s Saket, the night shows were sold out by afternoon. 

Apart from the Delhi Police, para-military was also deployed across the city. Cops were well prepared with water cannons stationed outside the malls and theatres. Riot control and Parakram vehicles of the Delhi Police were stationed at prominent locations to thwart any untoward incident.   

In some theatres, cops were deployed inside the theatres to keep an eye on anti-social elements. Security personnel were constantly roaming inside and outside the malls to make sure people entering and exiting the theatre felt safe. In malls also, extra private security officers were deployed so that the movie release goes on peacefully.

HC ‘NO’ TO PLEA

The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to entertain a plea by a Rajasthan-based group seeking quashing of the U/A certification granted to ‘Padmaavat’ stating that the apex court had given a green signal to the release of the historical film.