Veer Zaara hits screens under police protection

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Photo courtesy: Times of India

Police escort Veer-Zaara in B’lore

The movie was not released in the other two cinema halls, Swagath and Vaibhav. The owners cited inadequate police protection.
Deccan Herald

The long-awaited Hindi film Veer-Zaara hit the silverscreen in Bangalore on Monday after much speculation.

With this, the three-week moratorium that was imposed informally in a meeting headed by the Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah last month has been defied. In fact, this is the second instance wherein exhibitors in Bangalore have defied the moratorium and released new other language films.

The film was screened twice, evening and night show in the city’s Cauvery theatre under heavy police protection. Tickets were issued only for balcony and semi-balcony classes. The front benches were kept empty for security reasons, K V Dhananjay, advocate to the Cauvery theatre, told Deccan Herald.
The Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Veer-Zaara, however, was not released in two other cinema halls — Swagath and Vaibhav — as announced.

Though these theatres had planned to have a regular four-show screening of the movie, they managed to get it released only for the evening and night show. “We just wanted to release the film. Once done, everybody will follow suit,” Mr Dhananjay said.

The film was released in Bangalore without involving distributors, and the film prints were supplied directly by Mr Yash Chopra from Mumbai. The movie was released elsewhere in the country last Friday.

Earlier in the day, movie-goers were disappointed at the no-show board displayed at these theatres. All three theatres cited inadequate security as the reason. Monday being the Ramzan festival holiday, a large number of people had gathered in front of these theatres to watch the film.

The theatre owners blamed the police for not providing “adequate” security for the release. “We had asked for atleast eight platoons per theatre. But only one platoon was deployed. We cannot risk screening the movie without adequate protection,” Dhananjay stated.

Following this development, the Kannada Film Producers’ Association has called an emergency meeting of its members on Tuesday to decide on the future course of action, Association President Basant Kumar Patil said.

Earlier, around 30 Karnataka Rakshana Vedike activists were taken into preventive custody when they protested against the release of Veer- Zaara in Cauvery theatre.

According to the police, the activists allegedly tried to barge into the theatre on Sankey Road.

Notice to theatre owner

The Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) has decided to issue a notice to the owner of Cauvery theatre. KFCC President H D Gangaraj said: “We will issue notice to the owner as per the KFCC bye-laws for breaking the three-week moratorium.” He also said that he had advised the theatre owner against releasing the film. “In fact, the owner had promised me to drop his plans but it happened otherwise,” he added.

Review meeting

Mr Gangaraj said that the three-week moratorium will be reviewed and a delegation comprising of representatives from all three sectors will meet the Deputy Chief Minister next month in this regard. “All problems being faced by exhibitors because of the moratorium will be discussed in the meeting,” he added.
Karnataka Film Exhibitors’ Federation President R R Odugoudar has also called for a meeting to review the moratorium. “It (moratorium) should be reviewed as exhibitors are finding it difficult to implement it. The meeting will be held next month,” he said.