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Storm follows Fire, Chief Justice petitioned against Manohar Joshi's pat for vandalism

Suparn Verma and Lata Khubchandani in Bombay

The moral brigade of Maharashtra, aka the Shiv Sena, has struck again, the fourth time this year.

Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das in Fire

Facing its wrath is Fire, Deepa Mehta's sensitive portrayal of a relationship between two women, that the Central Board for Film Certification has cleared for viewing with an 'A' certificate, which has virtually been stubbed out in theatres in places as diverse as Bombay, Delhi and Surat.

It is interesting to see the targets of Sena ire: first it was the McDonald's hangout; next it was the Savage Garden concert; then the beach volleyball players in swimsuits.

What has made the attack against Fire different, is that it has led to physical violence. On Wednesday, the Shiv Sena Mahila Aghadi stormed the New Empire cinema in south Bombay, and Cinemax in north Bombay, and tore down posters and banners, destroyed property and pelted stones at the audience who were watching the film. Both the cinema houses hastily cancelled further shows of the film, even as Maharashtra Chief Minister Manohar Joshi expressed his solidarity with the protesters. On Thursday, Sena activists attacked the Regal cinema in Delhi for the same reason.

Maharashtra Minister for Cultural Affairs Pramod Navalkar, initially refused to be drawn into a controversy. "Please, I don't want to say anything about this, otherwise I'll simply be involved in a controversy," but soon overcame his reluctance to say: "The film is against our culture, it does not depict proper social values. I received a letter of protest from a women's organisation and I have forwarded it to the Censor Board and the central government. Otherwise I have not taken any action against the film."

About a small minority imposing its will on the larger population, Navalkar is quick to defend his party folk. "No, no, they are not a minority, the people who are seeing it are the ones in a minority. You see, there are two opinions to everything."

About his own opinion of the film, he is frank. "I can't talk about the film because I haven't seen it, but I do know the story." Asked what exactly comprises Indian culture in his opinion, the minister says: "That's a very big question, and needs to be answered in detail. I don't have the time for it now."

Shyam Shroff, the Indian distributor of the film and owner of the Cinemax theatre, on the other hand, is appalled and helpless. "It is shocking when the chief minister actually agrees with this kind of behaviour. These people simply barged in and drove away the audience who had bought the tickets. If they have a complaint they should have gone to court."

About the film making a comeback, he is not very optimistic: "I don't know, I can't risk the life of my audiences until something concrete is done."

"I can't even take any action against them, since they haven't followed any procedure. If they had gone to court we would have fought it there, had they complained to the central government we would have done something. But if you come out on the streets and fight, then we can't go down to that level."

"The Censor Board can't do anything in the matter since it has already given the film a certificate. If we had added certain scenes later on then the permission can be revoked, otherwise no. Only the central government has the authority to take action against the film, or the police commissioner if there is a law and order situation. But right now, even he can't do anything because the protesters have succeeded in shutting down the film."

Javed Akhtar, who had translated the script of Fire, is outraged that none less than the chief minister has congratulated the people who have vandalised theatres where the film was being screened.

"The situation was already disgusting," he says, "But the cherry on this ugly cake is that Manohar Joshi can talk like that. It is totally unprecedented that a chief minister congratulates the miscreants who have entered theatres and broken the windows and showcases and have forcefully stopped the show. The chief minister, who is supposed to be the guardian of the state's law and order, is congratulating them,. Whether this issue will be sorted out legally is for the producer to decide but we, people who are concerned citizens, have sent a plea to the Supreme Court Chief Justice."

The petition has been signed by people like Dilip Kumar, Atul Setalvad, Yash Chopra, and Mahesh Bhatt among others, and asks for an explanation for the chief minister's behaviour and why lawful methods were not used to stop the film if it had to be done at all. It asserts that this is a violation of the fundamental rights of the people guaranteed under Article 14. The petition requests the Chief Justice to call upon the state government to explain its action and non-action on this issue, both of which has shaken people's confidence in the law and enforcement authorities.

"I don't understand what is happening here," says Akhtar, "Get a survey done and see what people have to say about the film -- is it obscene, vulgar or what. It's a very sensitive film.. Who is Manohar Joshi or Shiv Sena or Pramod Navalkar? Are these people the monopolists of Indian culture? Will the Shiv Sena define in this country what is Indian culture? Who is it to define it? Which Indian culture are they talking about it -- there are so many shades to Indian culture. In fact, what they're talking about is definitely not Indian culture, it sounds more like Taliban culture. The Shiv Sena is turning out to be some kind of Indian Taliban -- you can't do this, you can't do that..."

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