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I&B minister asks censors to watch Fire again

The Union information and broadcasting ministry today asked the Central Board of Film Certification to re-examine the movie Fire directed by Canada-based film-maker Deepa Mehta.

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, minister of state for information and broadcasting, sent the film to the CBFC under the powers conferred on the central government by rule 32(2) of the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules 1983.

After getting the Board's opinion, the government will take a final decision on the film.

Fire, made in English and dubbed in Hindi, was granted an 'A' certificate by the CBFC, which is headed by actress Asha Parekh.

The film, produced more than a year ago, was released last month all over the country.

This week, violent demonstrations were staged outside cinema halls screening the film in the capital and some cities in Maharashtra and Gujarat, mainly by members of the Sangh Parivar and the Shiv Sena. The issue was also raised in the Rajya Sabha.

The film, which stars Shabana Azmi, Nandita Das, Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Jaaved Jafferi, relates the story of two women in a middle-class household in Delhi whose husbands are too busy to give them any attention. Their loneliness brings them close to each other and they develop a lesbian relationship.

The protestors say the depiction of a sexual relationship between two women and certain other scenes in the film go against 'Indian culture'.

Meanwhile, the Delhi police have arrested the president and joint secretary of the Delhi unit of the Shiv Sena in connection with the ransacking of Regal Cinema in Connaught Place yesterday by some party activists who were protesting against the film.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (headquarters) Mohun Kudaisya said Jai Bhagwan Goel, president of the Sena's city unit, and joint secretary Dhruv Chand Pathak were arrested. Raiding parties have been sent to arrest the other suspects, all Sena workers.

A case of criminal trespass, rioting, damage to public property, and criminal conspiracy has been registered at the Connaught Place police station.

UNI

RELATED REPORT:
The fire against Fire spreads to Surat

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