"Padmavaat" was released today across India, producers said one million people watched the movie.
As Deepika Padukone starrer "
Padmaavat" was finally released across India today, protesters turned out in strength to pull out the movie in the few small towns of Uttar Pradesh that were holding screenings.
Unlike Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, the Deepika Padukone starrer was not officially blacked out by theatre hall owners in Uttar Pradesh. But in large swathes of the state, including towns like Muzaffarnagar, Ballia, Azamgarh and Balrampur, theatre owners played safe.
Strong security measures were taken outside movie theatres following directions from Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Still, in places like Mughal Sarai, protesters gathered outside the theatres where the movie was being screened.
The owner of Sitapur's sole multiplex was attacked as he left the mall that housed it. He was safe but a window pane of his car was smashed.
In Allahabad, members of the Kshatriya Mahasabha held protests outside the PVR cinemas after the police stopped them from entering the multiplex. There, however, was no show since the multiplex had decided against screening the movie today.
Protestors tried to storm the only multiplex in Mughal Sarai where the film was being screened. But they were stopped in time by the police and the screenings continued peacefully.
Sonbhadra and Fatehpur witnessed protests, where members of a fringe group burnt the effigy of director Sanjay Leela Bhansali. In Agra, some members of right-wing groups got their heads tonsured to register their protest.
In Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow, protestors squatted outside the famous novelty cinemas for hours, asking that the "Padmavaat" shows here be cancelled . The hall management, however, refused to comply.
In the morning, a directive had been issued to police chiefs that read, "Protests are allowed in democracy but no one is allowed to break the law". "We will ensure safety to the theatres and take stern action against those taking law and order into their hands," said UP minister Siddharth Nath Singh on Wednesday.
Samajwadi party chief and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav accused the BJP of engineering the protests. "Please go through the CCTV camera footage of protests in the state capital and you will know who are behind the protests," Mr Yadav was quoted as saying by news agency Press Trust of India. "On the one hand, they (the BJP) are protesting, and on the other hand pretending to control the situation arising out of the protests," Mr Yadav told reporters.