AIB Knockout: Script that got clearance was of an old AIB show

Even as organisers of the AIB Knockout event stare at police action following a Mumbai court’s orders, it has now emerged that the script based on which permission for the show was secured belonged to a several-month-old event. Scrutiny of that script had found nothing objectionable, following which the show was permitted.

(Read: AIB Knockout: Script that got clearance was of an old AIB show)

The organisers, a company named Only Much Louder (OML), now face action for submitting the script of a September 2014 show to the state government’s Directorate of Cultural Affairs while seeking permission for the expletive-laden AIB Knockout. The directorate has confirmed that AIB went ahead with its January 20, 2014, show using a script that was never approved.

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Mumbai Police, which is conducting a probe into the show at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium in Worli, is now in possession of two scripts — one submitted prior to the show and another after the probe began.

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According to documents accessed by The Indian Express, the Stage Performance Scrutiny Board of the Directorate of Cultural Affairs granted permission for the Knockout to OML on December 8, 2014, once it had secured all necessary NOCs from other agencies such as Mumbai Police, the BMC and Fire Brigade, among others.

The script submitted to the scrutiny board is titled “The Royal Turds 2014,” a parody of film award shows performed by AIB and organised by OML at several locations across the country, including a show in the city on September 18. The Royal Turds awards films chosen by AIB as the year’s worst.

The script submitted to the scrutiny board runs into 29 pages and includes comic sketches on actor Farhan Akhtar’s Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and actor Hrithik Roshan among others. This script, according to senior officials from the Directorate of Cultural Affairs, has references to actors Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha, and cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. While it was found to be “very funny”, it was not obscene, said officials.

According to a senior police officer, OML was later asked to provide a script of the AIB ‘Roast’ show once investigations began following the furore. This 14-page document is a verbatim transcript of the January 20 performance. “There is a clear discrepancy here because the AIB ‘Roast’ performance has nothing to do with the script submitted at the time of seeking approval,” the officer said. Valsa Nair-Singh, Principal Secretary, Tourism and Culture, said, “The script has been changed. We have directed Mumbai Police to take action under the Bombay Police Act.”

Another official from the Directorate of Cultural Affairs said they had submitted a report to the Home Department last week, noting the discrepancy in scripts.

Ram Jadhav, chairman of the scrutiny board, said that permission would never have been granted if the submitted script included expletives and language that Christian groups have now found insulting. “When we receive scripts for clearance we peruse them for content that may be anti-national, obscene or insulting religions or women. The script that OML submitted was completely clean and we did not have to ask them to cut out and edit portions. They (OML) gave one script to us while seeking permission, but used another for the performance,” he said.