Mumbai: A day before the release of ‘Thackeray’, a biopic of the Shiv Sena supremo, the movie is caught up in a controversy. Director Abhijit Panse walked out of the special premiere as he and his family felt they had been insulted by producer Sanjay Raut. (For the record, Raut is Shiv Sena’s Member of Rajya Sabha while Panse is leader of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.)
It was high voltage drama as Raut and Panse had a verbal exchange, constraining Panse to walk out in a huff. The premiere show was organised at Atria Mall in Worli. According to eyewitnesses, Panse and family had reached late for the premiere; but instead of the seats reserved in the last row, they were offered front row seats.
Miffed at the slight, Panse walked out of the theatre without watching the film. Raut tried to dissuade Panse but the director did not listen and left. After the incident, a video went viral on social media of Panse arguing with Raut and walking out of the theatre. MNS trolled Raut on social media after this incident.
MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande supported Panse and tweeted, ‘‘Abhijit, we are with you. People should learn (from you) how to kick someone who insults you.’’ Deshpande posted on social media that he had spoken to Panse and the director told him that he made the movie due to his love for Thackeray. That was provocation enough for MNS to start a campaign on social media – ‘I support Abhijit Panse’.
Another party leader, Avinash Jadhav, in a tweet claimed that the MNS chief Raj Thackeray had warned Panse that Shiv Sena would behave shabbily towards him. He added: “They (Shiv Sena) will cheat you. First, they used you for Aditya Thackeray and now for this movie.” Sanjay Raut also replied through Twitter and said, “When garbage is saturated in a small brain, they forget control and gratitude.” After this tweet, Raut got trolled and several MNS followers also reacted to the incident.
