PANJIM: Fox Star Studios and Ramesh Sippy, the producers of the controversial film Dum Maro Dum, which is slated to release on April 22 have agreed to hold a special screening of the film for a state-level committee constituted by the government under the chairmanship the information and publicity secretary, Mr Rajiv Verma on April 18 at the Maquinez Palace auditorium.
The committee has been constituted to study the contents of the film and present its report to the Chief Minister, Mr Digambar Kamat, following objections from several quarters for allegedly portraying Goa and the residents of the state in poor light. The film has already been passed by the Central Board of Film Certification with an Adult certificate.
The members of the committee include chairperson of the Goa State Commission for Women, Ms Ezilda Sapeco; the state inspector general of police, Ms Sundari Nanda; Margao-based Ms Bima Naik; the editor of The Navhind Times, Mr Arun Sinha; the CEO of the Entertainment Society of Goa, Mr Manoj Srivastava; and the information and publicity director, Mr Menino Peres.
A senior government official told this daily on Saturday that the committee members would view the film and submit its observations about the same to the government. "The producers of Dum Maro Dum have already deleted some objectionable dialogues from the promos of the film after the intervention of the Union ministry of information and broadcasting," the official added.
Dum Maro Dum starring Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu, Prateik Babbar, Rana Dagubatti, Aditya Pancholi and Deepika Padukone narrates the story of a cop, who has been deputed by no less than the state Chief Minister for putting a leash on the drug and flesh trade mafia in the state. The story is told from the cop’s point of view. It also touches upon mining as well as builders’ lobbies in the state. The movie has an innocent student and a cynical musician as other important characters.
Meanwhile the multiplexes as well as single-screen theatres in Goa are yet to publicise the release of Dum Maro Dum which is scheduled to hit theatres on April 22, a Good Friday holiday. The multiplex and theatre owners are waiting for the nod from the government to go ahead with the release of the movie.
A couple of years ago, the government of Goa had banned screening of the movie Da Vinci Code after protests from the Catholic community, and increasing complaints that the film had disrespectful references to Jesus Christ. Incidentally, Do Chor, a Hindi film released in early 1970s, and starring Dharmendra and Tanuja had shown the lead actors singing with hippy community on a Goan beach; the entire group openly using drugs in the midst of a police raid. The film, however, faced no objection from the Goan public and went on to become a major success.
If the committee has been constituted to study the contents of the film which allegedly portrays Goa and its residents in poor light and is derogatory to Goan women, then why is it headed by a non-Goan and that, too, a man?
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