WASHINGTON, AUG 29: It will be orgy minus shloka. Following angry protests from Hindu activists in the West, Warner Brothers is editing the movie Eyes Wide Shut to delete a shloka from the Bhagavad Gita used as background music in the sexually explicit scene.The remixing is being carried out in studios in London before some 400 copies of the revised version is released for viewing in the United Kingdom early September.The Stanley Kubrick film has already run its course in the United States where it was only a moderate success. But typically, films do a second lap at reduced prices a few months down the line.The controversy, first reported in this newspaper, erupted after Hindu activists in the United States zeroed in on the orgy scene in the film which used a familiar verse from the Gita as a background chant.The activists argued that the shloka, in which Lord Krishna talks of manifesting himself in human form to combat evil on earth, was used in an inappropriate and vulgar manner.Hindugroups in the West began protesting over the Internet and Warner Brothers was forced to respond to calls and e-mails with a qualified apology. But maintained they saw no need to make changes to the film.Lately the movie conglomerate appears to have had a change of heart ahead of the film's release in the United Kingdom. Some link this to the larger and more cohesive Hindu population in Britain that could have resulted in greater and louder protests.Others link it to the company's ambitious plans to expand into India, which a prospective BJP-led government could facilitate or scupper depending on the company's track record in such matters.By way of explanation though, a Warner executive said in London that ``We asked ourselves what Stanley (Kubrick) would have done?'' He thought the late filmmaker, who died days after he completed the film, would have unhesitatingly edited the scene since it was a mistake made unwittingly.Most film buffs would contest that since Kubrick, like most top rankfilm-makers, never compromised on what he saw as the movie's artistic integrity. In fact, there are many critics who feel the use of the Gita verse is entirely apposite.The debate surrounding the verse has been raging on several Internet discussion groups. ``Hindu activists.get a life,'' sneered one participant on a forum called chaitime.com. Another condemned the trivialisation and ``commodification'' of South Asian religion and culture. ``Would Warner Brothers use verses from the Koran or the Bible for the scene?'' one angry participant asked.Now, with Warner Brothers issuing the edited version, the controversy may have been laid to rest.
