The AIB Roast of actors Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor
Stepping into a row over an expletive-laced, no-holds barred "roast" of two film stars, the Maharashtra government today said it could take action.
"If the AIB roast was vulgar and not in accordance with the law, then we will act," said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
The roast, the first of its kind in India, featured a panel of eight and 'Roastmaster' Karan Johar skewering 'Gunday' actors Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor and subjecting them to jokes about their on-screen and off-screen lives. 4,000 people attended the show last week in Mumbai and later it went viral online.
Two complaints have been filed in Mumbai alleging obscenity. "The Christian community has given us a representation. We are looking into the legal aspects of it," said senior police officer S Jayakumar.
Police sources say they are studying the content of the show to see if a case needs to be filed against the organisers. They say the show had permission. But producers can face prosecution if their content is vulgar, hurts religious sentiments or causes disharmony, using the same provisions under which such permissions are given seem to have been violated.
Karan Johar hit back at critics on twitter today, saying, "Not your cup of tea.. don't drink it."
He responded hours after a tasteless tweet on him by Ashoke Pandit, a member of India's Censor Board. "Karan Johar could have easily shown his position while performing *&$ to his mom at home instead of making it public.#AIB Porn Show," Mr Pandit, a filmmaker, tweeted.
The backlash was instant. "Filmmaker & censor board member @ashokepandit tweets filth about @karanjohar. Is this acceptable? He should quit or be removed," tweeted Salman Soz, a spokesman of the Congress.
Actor Sonakshi Sinha tweeted, "So nice to see twitter is filled with such angels who point out hypocrisy n never use foul language n have nvr laughed at dirty jokes (haw)."
Mr Pandit defended his comments. "I stand by my tweet. If you depict masturbation on stage it is porn. Will you see this with your parents and family? Don't teach me what is humour - I am the king of comedy," he told NDTV.
Reflecting the sharply divided response to the show, at least three hashtags trended on twitter - #AIBRoast, AIB National Shame, We Stand by AIB Knockout.