Fanaa’s Gujarat debut in Jamnagar

The rest of Gujarat might still be playing the waiting game for Aamir Khan’s Fanaa, but Jamnagar had a date with the controversial film on Tuesday. A day after the Supreme Court asked the Gujarat Government to provide adequate security to cinema theatres wanting to screen the movie, Ambar Cinema announced that it would run three shows of the film.

By 3.30 pm, about 40 per cent of the tickets were sold. People continued to trickle in for the next half hour, and as the titles came on, Aamir the activist was forgotten and Aamir the actor took over. However, what was surprising was that not one of the three shows of the movie ran houseful. Protests were lukewarm, owing to the presence of the men in khaki outside the hall.

While only a handful of BJP workers turned up at the theatre, the surprise appearance was of Congress MP Vikram Madam. Madam was reportedly at the theatre to ensure ‘‘peaceful screening’’ of the movie as his nephew owns the theatre.

Vimal Madam, the owner of the theatre, tread a cautious line. ‘‘What Aamir said is his personal matter. I shouldn’t allow it to make any loss to my business,” he said. He maintained he would go ahead with the screening till there was public demand. He maintained that the issue was one of prestige for the BJP. “Aamir has categorically said that he is not against construction of the dam. So there is no issue at all,” he said.