'Zila Ghaziabad' to be screened for select Ghaziabad crowd

Mumbai, Feb 20 (IANS) The people of Ghaziabad are reportedly not too pleased with the way they have been presumably portrayed in the cops-as-robbers thriller "Zila Ghaziabad", releasing Friday. Producer Vinod Bachchan will screen it Wednesday for a select audience in Ghaziabad.

The town on the outskirts of Delhi has lately been witness to protests from the local people who feel portraying their town as den of crime is wrong. The protests are similar to what Wasseypur witnessed when the film on the rather adventurous, supposedly crime-infested life in Jharkhand, was released.

Protesting about the premature protests, Bachchan said: "But the people of Wasseypur were upset after they saw Anurag Kashyap's film ('Gangs Of Wasseypur'). In my case, they are jumping to the conclusion that 'Zila Ghaziabad' portrays their town in a bad light without seeing the film."

So far the film has not been screened for any audience. But now on Wednesday, Bachchan and with the film's writer Vinay Sharma are visiting Ghaziabad to show the film to a select audience.

"We're going to invite the sensible section of people in Ghaziabad whose opinion is valued in the area, to see our film and judge whether we've portrayed Ghaziabad in an unflattering light," said the producer.

Bachchan is sure once the local intelligentsia sees the film, the project would automatically be given the all-clear.

The film's main character of cop Pritam Singh, played by Sanjay Dutt, is apparently based on a real-life Ghaziabad cop, who adopted somewhat unorthodox methods of dealing with crime. Apparently, the locals fear the film would project the cop's personality in a way that would demystify the much-revered character.

But the producer wants to assure the local people that no damage would be done to Ghaziabad or its people when the film is released Friday.

"We wanted to be fair and authentic. That's why we selected our writer Vinay Sharma from Ghaziabad. He knows the place and the people. We haven't faked, falsified or sensationalised the truth," said Bachchan, who is not too happy with the 'A' certificate given by the Censor Board Of Film Certification to his film.

He said there is nothing "objectionable" about the film. Click the Movie button below for more info:
Zila Ghaziabad