In an act of unlawful dadagiri, filming of action-comedy was disrupted by a group of Hindutva activists because they thought it was a biopic of Tipu Sultan.
According to The Indian Express reports, the incident took place on Tuesday near an Archaeological Survey of India protected site in Tamil Nadu’s Dindigul during the shooting of action-comedy film Sulthan, starring Karthi and Rashmika Mandanna.
The reports stated that the members of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Hindu Munnani reached there and staged protests. The protesters also allegedly shouted slogans against the erstwhile ruler of Mysore and the actor Karthi assuming that the latter was playing the role of Tipu.
A police officer told the Indian Express that while there was no damage due to the protest, however, the shooting schedule was disrupted.
“They were in the final stage of shooting. Local cadres of Hindu Munnani and BJP organised and marched to the location near a site protected by the ASI… They organised and marched to the area believing a news report that the movie’s name was not Sultan but ‘Tipu Sultan’. As the mob refused to leave the area even after they were briefed about the original story, the film crew left the place with all valuable equipment.”
The producers of Sulthan on Thursday issued a statement clarifying that the film has nothing to do with Tipu Sultan and also condemned groups for disrupting the movie shootings.
“There is a censor board to ensure what is not to be shown in a movie. Apart from this, the right to decide what to portray in a movie lies with its creators. This is the freedom and protection provided to us by our country’s law. Hence, we strongly condemn any efforts made by any organisation or individual to stifle the freedom of creators,” read the Tamil statement, according to the The News Minute.
“We also condemn activities that identify the lives of our historical and national leaders on the basis of caste and religion thereby bringing disrepute to their lives and our history,” the producers continued.