Film Kedarnath starring Sushant, Sara Ali Khan banned in Uttarakhand

The Uttarakhand government on Friday decided to ban Bollywood film ‘Kedarnath’ starring Sushant Singh Rajput and Sara Ali Khan.

News agency ANI quoted, Uttarakhand Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj as saying, “Our committee has forwarded our advice to Chief Minister and decided that law and order should be reviewed. We asked District Magistrates to maintain peace and everyone has decided that Kedarnath movie should be banned. The movie is banned everywhere in state.”

In the film, while Sara is playing the role of a Hindu girl, Sushant is in the role of a Muslim boy. The film had courted controversy after its trailer showed steamy scenes between Sara and Sushant.

The Uttarakhand High Court on Thursday had refused to stay the release of film “Kedarnath”. Swami Darshan Bharti of Garhwal had demanded that the film should be banned. The High Court had said Bharti should go to the District Magistrate of Rudraprayag with his complaint.

A single bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan was told the film should be banned as it was hurt people who were affected by the 2013 flash floods that ravaged Kedarnath besides hurting Hindu sentiments.

The petitioner pleaded that the film promoted “love jihad” — a word coined by right-wing Hindu groups, to denote marriages between Muslim boys and Hindu girls.

Keeping in view the objections, the state government had formed a committee headed by Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj and comprising Home Secretary Nitesh Kumar Jha, Director General of Police Anit Ratoori and Tourism Secretary Dilip Jawalkar.

The committee was asked to go through all aspects and submit a detailed report to the state government, after which a final decision on the film’s release in Uttarakhand had to be taken. The movie was finally banned from release.

By EP Web Desk

(With Inputs From IANS)