‘Aarakshan’ screening begins in Uttar Pradesh

Over a week after its worldwide release, multiplexes and cinema halls across Uttar Pradesh started screening Prakash Jha-directed film ‘Aarakshan’ Saturday - a day after the Supreme Court revoked the state government`s ban on the movie.

"We have complied with the Supreme Court directions pertaining to the screening of the movie. Cinema halls in Lucknow and other cities have already started screening `Aarakshan`," Chandra Bhanu, secretary of the entertainment tax department, told reporters here Saturday.

"We received the copy of the Supreme Court judgment late Friday evening. We have already instructed all district magistrates and entertainment tax officials to make necessary arrangements for screening the movie in their respective regions," he added.

Citing fears of law and order problems, Mayawati`s government Aug 10 slapped a two-month ban on the screening of ‘Aarakshan’ across the state.

The government was of the view that the release of ‘Aarakshan,’ which deals with the reservation issue, could lead to social unrest.

Cinema operators and multiplex managers have expressed happiness over the apex court`s ruling, and expect to earn good profit from the movie.

"We were disappointed when the ban was imposed. But now we feel that the back-to-back holidays due to the weekend and Janmashtami holiday will bring in good business," said an official of Wave multiplex that started running five shows of the movie from 10:30 a.m.

People in Lucknow too hailed the apex court judgment.

"There was just no need to ban the screening of the movie as the censor board had already cleared the movie. The Supreme Court judgment will definitely make the government think twice before banning the screening of any movie now," Mudit Swaroop, a Lucknow University (LU) student, told reporters.

Akanksha Mittal, a research scholar here, said: "All of our friends had planned to watch the movie, but were disappointed on learning about the ban. Now, as the court has lifted it, we are again looking forward to enjoy the movie on the big screen."