Ameya Khopkar, Amol Kagne raise their voice after Maharashtra Police compels theatres to stop screening 'Bhonga'

The Marathi film 'Bhonga', directed by Shivaji Lotan Patil, was released all over Maharashtra on May 3. The trailer and the topic of the film have aroused a lot of curiosity among the viewers. Shockingly, the police force doesn’t want viewers to enjoy this acclaimed Marathi film, which has also got a National Award for Best Marathi Film in 2019. It has come to light that police officers have been calling up exhibitors and insisting them to not play 'Bhonga'.

Amol Kagne, the producer of the film, says, “I was shocked when I learnt that the cops have been telling the exhibitors to not play my film. It seems the police feels that my film can cause law and order problems. However, that’s a very unfair assumption. My film has nothing objectionable. It talks about a social topic and not a political one. Moreover, let’s not forget that 'Bhonga' was awarded the National Award. It’s a huge honour and the government would not award a film that’ll divide society. Hence, I request the police force to stop harassing theatre owners. Please let them play the film and let audiences experience our labour of hard work on the big screen.”

Ameya Khopkar, president of the Maharashtra Navnirman Chitrapat Karmachari Sena and also the presenter of the film is livid over this development. He tweeted, “What is the authority of the police to remove a film, which has been awarded a National Award and has received a Censor Board certificate, from the theater?”. His other tweet read, “The state government is behaving like a dictator. The movie 'Bhonga' is being taken out of the theater. The Home Department itself is asking the police to do illegal work.”

Ameya Khopkar also says, “The theatres like City Pride in Kothrud, Pune City Pride Abiruchi, Pune etc have been forced to remove the film. Calls have been made from Alankar Police Station, Abhiruchi Police Station, Market Yard Police Station, Kopar Khairane Police Station etc to cinemas. This is really unfair and a grave attack on the freedom of expression. We condemn this act of the police and we’ll fight. We’ll ensure that 'Bhonga' runs in cinemas successfully.”