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Deepa looking for a new site to shoot Water

Controversial director Deepa Mehta is looking for a new site to shoot her film Water. Speaking to newspersons after reaching New Delhi from Varanasi on Tuesday evening, the director said she was considering some alternatives.

On Monday, the Uttar Pradesh government asked Deepa's unit to pack up and leave Varanasi following protests by some Hindu organisations against the film, which is based on the lives of Hindu widows.

Deepa Mehta has already got one offer. Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh has assured the director full security if she opts to shoot her film on the banks of Narmada in MP.

In Lucknow, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kalraj Mishra, said the decision to stop the shooting was justified in view of the ''public outrage'' against the film.

In New Delhi, Bharatiya Janata Party national general secretary, K N Govindacharya, told journalists that ''she (Deepa) alone is to be blamed for the situation in Varanasi.''

When asked if the UP government's action was not an embarrassment for the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley, who had cleared the script of the film after some changes, Govindacharya said: ''There is no embarrassment.''

''There is no absolute freedom in a democracy. It has to taken with a certain amount of responsibility towards the society,'' he said and cautioned against underestimating ''emotions and sentiments'' of the people.

Govindacharya said though the BJP condemned the violence that erupted at Varanasi, it would not approve of ''the irresponsible and insensitive approach'' of the filmmaker.

Meanwhile, opposition parties all over the country have condemned the UP government's action. West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu has threatened to launch a nation-wide protest.

''There is a strong need to launch a nation-wide movement against such decisions of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre. Our MPs will take up the matter in Parliament,'' the Communist Party of India-Marxist leader told journalists in Calcutta.

The Karnataka unit of the CPI condemned the protests against the film saying that the developments were a ''violation of the freedom of speech.''

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