Padmaavat release: In Ludhiana, premiere shows screened peacefully, security deployed outside theaters

Some groups protesting against the film on Tuesday had announced support for Karni Sena which is leading the protest against the film, and said that they will not let the film release in Ludhiana too.

Amidst the protests in different parts of the country against Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film Padmaavat, the screening of premiere shows was held peacefully in Ludhiana Wednesday. As many as seven theaters and multiplexes in Ludhiana screened Padmaavat’s premiere shows Wednesday as police deployed adequate cops outside each venue. Deputy commissioner of police Ludhiana Ashwani Kapoor, speaking to The Indian Express said that there is general intelligence input of some trouble that can happen as movie releases worldwide Thursday. “We have taken precautionary measure and at least five cops have been deployed outside each venue screening the film. The security will continue to be deployed at least till the weekend. All the multiplexes which held premiere shows today were also given security,” he said.

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In Ludhiana, premiere shows on Wednesday were held at Cinepolis Cinemas MBD Neopolis Mall, PVR Pavilion Mall, PVR Flamez Mall, PVR Silver Arc Mall, Solitaire Cinemas, SRS Cinemas at Omaxe Mall and Wave Cinemas at Westend Mall with the ticket price ranging from Rs 180 per ticket to Rs 450 varying as per the venue. Some groups protesting against the film on Tuesday had announced support for Karni Sena which is leading the protest against the film, and said that they will not let the film release in Ludhiana too

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Speaking to The Indian Express, a source from PVR cinemas said, “Response has been good despite threats and controversies going around the film. However, today the crowds were more of youths not families. On our request police has deployed adequate force at the venues and also we have hired some private security. Advance booking is also picking up pace as movie has finally been released. Earlier, since release was doubtful, advance booking was almost nil.”

However, DCP said that no untoward incident was reported from city. “We are taking all precautionary measures required for the safety of the people who are coming to watch the film. There is no security issue and people can come to watch the film without any fear,” said Kapoor.

Divya Goyal

Divya Goyal is a Principal Correspondent with The Indian Express, based in Punjab. Her interest lies in exploring both news and feature stories, with an effort to reflect human interest at the heart of each piece. She writes on gender issues, education, politics, Sikh diaspora, heritage, the Partition among other subjects. She has also extensively covered issues of minority communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan. She also explores the legacy of India's partition and distinct stories from both West and East Punjab. She is a gold medalist from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi, the most revered government institute for media studies in India, from where she pursued English Journalism (Print). Her research work on “Role of micro-blogging platform Twitter in content generation in newspapers” had won accolades at IIMC. She had started her career in print journalism with Hindustan Times before switching to The Indian Express in 2012. Her investigative report in 2019 on gender disparity while treating women drug addicts in Punjab won her the Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitivity in 2020. She won another Laadli for her ground report on the struggle of two girls who ride a boat to reach their school in the border village of Punjab. ... Read More

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