SP Mookerjee film finds no screen in Bengal

KOLKATA: All theatres in Bengal have cancelled shows of ‘Danga The Riot’ starring Gajendra Chauhan as BJP ideologue Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Supriya Devi as his mother. While director Milan Bhowmik has blamed it on attempts to sabotage a movie on Mookerjee in Bengal, his booker claims that exhibitors don’t want to risk playing a film with a controversial title.
Till Thursday early evening, BookMyShow showed two single-screen theatres in Kolkata scheduled to screen the film. But by late evening, the film had no shows in Bengal. Bhowmik said, “I was promised 103 theatres across Bengal. All the theatre owners have been unofficially threatened. For the fear of theatres being torched, not a single theatre or multiplex in Bengal will be screening my film now. I have audio recordings of a booker and a hall owner telling me of the threats they have received. They claimed cops had given instructions to that effect. I have asked them to submit their version to me in writing.”
According to the director, exhibitors from the entire north Bengal belt have suddenly boycotted his film. “The local booker had promised me 26 theatres in north Bengal. From Tuesday, he cancelled everything. What’s worse is that the booker — R Sharma — isn’t even taking our calls now. It’s shocking that a film with a valid censor certificate can’t get a proper release in Bengal. Gajendra Chauhan was in town, but he left after being miffed with the hall fiasco. This is perhaps the last film in which Supriya Devi acted. She has played Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s mother Jogamaya Devi,” Bhowmik said.
When TOItried to get in touch with Sharma, he said he was in Delhi and was unaware of any development regarding the film. Jagmohan Chaudhury, the booker for Indira cinema, cancelled the screening on Thursday evening. “We belong to the business community. I don’t want to get into any controversy. I was asked to cancel the screening and will not screen the film,” he said.
Krishna Daga, who is the main booker for this film, said, “As president of Eastern India Motion Pictures, I have received no political mandate asking exhibitors to stop screening the film. Considering the sensitivity of the title dealing with riot, exhibitors are unwilling to screen it.”
Bhowmik alleged that Bengal has given a step-motherly treatment to his film. “While the film isn’t releasing in Bengal, there are 26 theatres releasing it in Bihar and Jharkhand. In Assam, 37 theatres are releasing the film. Even the few theatres in Bengal which took advance from me have agreed to refund it,” the director said.