Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol in a still from Dilwale.
If you live in Mangaluru and want to see Shah Rukh Khan's
Dilwale - don't hold your breath. The film has been out of cinemas in Mangaluru ever since protests by the Bajrang Dal. The group is protesting against Shah Rukh Khan's comments on intolerance. The film is facing this despite the state government's assurance that they will not allow groups to take the law into their own hands.
Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara told NDTV, "The police has gone there. They have asked the owners to screen the movie and said we will give you the protection if anything happens. You give us a complaint we will definitely enforce the law. But unfortunately they have not given any complaints. The police has taken the situation under control and taken note of this very seriously. They have rounded up some Bajrang Dal activists. We don't allow the people to take the law into their own hands. We don't allow all these things."
Activist Vidya Dinker filed a complaint against right-wing groups for stopping the screening but on Facebook she faced vicious online abuse.
She told NDTV, "On Facebook, there were so many comments that were derogatory in nature, that were openly threatening to rape me, to assault me, to throw acid on my face, calling me all kinds of vulgar names. I thought the state would take action but it hasn't done it. So, a couple of days later on December 24, I went and filed an FIR about the online abuse. The co-convener of the Bajrang Dal in Mangalore has been apprehended. Nobody else has been apprehended. I think this is an opportunity for the state government, for the district administration, for the police in Dakshina Kannada in Mangalore. It is an opportunity to show the people that the rule of law, the constitutional values, freedom of expression, freedom of association, to fraternize with each other across communities, across caste still exist in Mangalore. We were a cosmopolitan peace loving largely peaceful society and we want to reclaim that."
The film was released in the city along with the rest of the country on December 18 but it was taken off by the theatre owners in view of security concerns on the weekend that followed.
Mangaluru and the Dakshina Kannada district as a whole have seen many cases of moral policing in the recent years and this would seem to be the latest example of that.