UP calls cut8217; as Sangh muddies Water

VARANASI, JANUARY 30: At 6 am today in Varanasi, Deepa Mehta was due to shoot the first frame with Shabana Azmi, bearing a tonsured head a...

VARANASI, JANUARY 30: At 6 am today in Varanasi, Deepa Mehta was due to shoot the first frame with Shabana Azmi, bearing a tonsured head a la Persis Khambatta look, and Nandita Das, without most of her dusky locks, for her last film in the element trilogy, Water.pInstead, while she sat in her room at the Clarks hotel, the Varanasi ghats played host to over 100 Sangh Parivar protesters who broke the props for her film, burnt her effigy in the heart of the city, and generally went about plastering posters against the shooting of Mehta8217;s film.

Meanwhile in Lucknow, the Uttar Pradesh government today officially denied Mehta permission to shoot in Varanasi. The decision had been conveyed to the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry which had given the permission for shooting, Principal Secretary Home VK Mittal said. He said the Government took this decision after the district administration sent a report on the tension in the city.

The protest march in Varanasi was led by local BJP MLA ShyamdeoRoychowdhary, and also included an ex-MLC, Beena pandey, along with Jyotsna Srivastav, wife of the UP Finance Minister Harish Chandra Srivastav, who has already made clear his displeasure with making Water in Varanasi. The protestors were saying that Deepa Mehta is portraying the holy city of Kashi as the 8220;prostitution city for child widows8221; from all over the country.

Mehta denies the charge. Roychowdhary admitted that 8220;though no one has seen the script8221; of the film and it is the content of the script that remains the bone of contention. He was leading the protest 8220;based on what the people are saying.8221; Mehta, for her part, was deeply upset at 8220;the waste of money, energy and talent8221;. When Express caught up with her, she was taking phone calls from her anxious set designer Aradhna Seth, also well known as the sister of Vikram Seth, whose props were lying damaged on the ghats and her power tools had been stolen by the mob.

Mehta, who is no stranger to controversy, said she had been trying to keep alow profile while shooting Water. Nothing, it would seem, is going according to plan. Before the controversy broke, Mehta explains, she had got the clearance from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry in Delhi, and then even procured the clearance from the District Magistrate Alok Kumar8217;s office in Varanasi.

None of it proved good enough, however, when it cames to actually getting the film off the floor. The Sangh Parivar protesters forced the DM to evoke the clause in her clearance letter that said she may consult the State government for approval of shooting. Now, says DM Alok Kumar, he has sent his report to the state government who will in turn take up the matter afresh with the Centre.

He will allow shooting only after that approval comes. None of this impresses Shyamdeo Roychowdhary who says: 8220;It has become a sentimental issue for the city of Kashi and the only way out of this mess for Mehta is to publish her script for the people to judge it for themselves.8221; He says that he doesn8217;t trustMehta8217;s word on her script because 8220;she enjoys portraying anti-Indian culture themes to get awards abroad as we saw in her depiction of lesbianism in Fire8221;.