As an unruly mob roughed-up Aashram 3 crew and inked Prakash Jha’s face in Bhopal, filmmakers call for saving the entertainment industry

Mona

Tandav, Padmaavat, The Suitable Boy, Paatal Lok… Aashram 3 joins the rather increasing list of shows/films that have come under fire for alleged ‘misrepresentation’. While the shoot was underway, the mob roughed up the crew, raised slogans and inked Prakash Jha’s face in Bhopal. What makes this incident different is that this time the furore is not based on a trailer and ‘supposed’ hurt sentiments; Aashram Part I and II are already out and Jha is a reputed name.

Filmmaker Madhureeta Anand finds it stressful that anybody can show up on sets and vandalise it, “It’s shocking that the industry that represents our country to the world is not able to protect itself. If per chance makers follow what they want, audiences would stop watching Indian shows only, and lap up foreign ones, and that would be the most anti-nationalist thing ever.” Anand points out that the Bhopal incident would have major ramifications, “Those who were planning to shoot in Madhya Pradesh would stall their projects; those on the sets would lose the will to work.”

Bad for the industry

“Recent times have been testing for the film and entertainment industry across the globe. While the Indian film industry has been keeping audiences entertained the world over even during the pandemic, it has recently been battling multiple tirades, ranging from drug charges to political controversies and much more,” says award-winning producer Rahul Mittra. “While I am for strict adherence to law and self-regulation with regards to content, I totally condemn recent attack on the sets of Aashram. Content production and shooting leads to employment generation and tourism is boosted in a big way. So, it’s imperative that state governments should provide unflinching support to film crews, especially with regards to security. Vandalism on shooting locations and seeking alteration in names, scripts etc, citing religious reasons, is certainly not the way a democracy functions,” he adds.

Twitter trail

Meanwhile, filmmakers Sanjay Gupta and Hansal Mehta took to Twitter and condemned the attack. “Disgusting,” posted Gupta. “Scared silence and continued deference will only empower such hooligans and further such oppression. But who will bell the cat?” tweeted Mehta.

Sudhir Mishra made a call for action, “What? This is terrible. The industry has to get together otherwise … (do I have to state it). Come on, associations. Stand with your members.”