NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad arrested for stopping screening of Marathi film Har Har Mahadev

The FIR was registered under Indian Penal Code sections of rioting, voluntarily causing hurt and provoking breach of trust. A police official said that some people who had come to see the movie were beaten up and an FIR was lodged based on the complaint of one Vijay Dhurve.

In his complaint, Dhurve said that when the NCP supporters started shutting down the screening, he asked that the money he paid for the movie be refunded following which he was roughed up by some of the supporters. Eventually, Awhad intervened in the matter and he was allowed to go.

On Monday night, the writer and director of the movie, Abhijeet Deshpande, tweeted, “The entire team of Har Har Mahadev condemns the attack on viewers who came to see the movie. Stop politicising Chhatrapati Shivaji..”

The incident occurred hours after the NCP warned the film industry that “any distortion of history under the name of freedom of expression and cinematic liberty will not be tolerated, and such films will face opposition”.

The move was in support of Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati from the Kolhapur royal family – a former Rajya Sabha MP and descendant of Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj – who also warned that films distorting historical facts about Shivaji’s life would be strongly opposed and efforts would be taken to prevent the release of such films.

This came in the wake of the release of Har Har Mahadev and the announcement of an upcoming film titled Vedat Marathe Veer Daudale Saat during which state Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray were present.

“A number of inaccuracies have been pointed out in the recently released movie Har Har Mahadev. We have also been hearing about fact distortion in Vedat Marathe Veer Daudale Saat. We will stall the release of any other such film in the future,” Sambhajiraje said on Sunday.