Goa lawmakers to discuss 'Dum Maaro Dum'

Panaji, March 29 (IANS) Already in the news for short skirts, bikinis and drugs, upcoming Bollywood flick "Dum Maaro Dum" (DMD) is all set to make waves in the Goa legislative assembly this week.

Lawmakers in Goa are likely to discuss a calling attention motion moved by former tourism minister Francisco alias Mickky Pacheco, who has said that the Rohan Sippy film, whose racy promos are making waves, projected Goa in a bad light.

"I have moved a calling attention motion before the speaker of legislative assembly, Pratapsingh Rane. The issue will be raised this week during the ongoing state legislative assembly session," Pacheco said.

"'Dum Maaro Dum' will badly dent the image of Goa. Our tourism season will be badly affected because of the film," said Pacheco, a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislator from Benaulim.

Starring Abhishek Bachchan and Deepika Padukone, the film is all set for release April 22.

"We are looking at family tourism in the state. We don't want the tag of sex and drug tourism, which this film shows. It will kill the industry," said Pacheco, a controversial personality himself.

Over his chequered political career, Pacheco has been booked for a wide range of crimes, including extortion, assault, bigamy, forgery and money laundering. He was also in the news more than a year back after he called Goa "the rape capital of India", while commenting on the deteriorating law and order situation in the state.

"Looking at the promos of the movie, it is clear that the movie portrays the bad image about the state. If the movie is fiction, then they should have avoided naming Goa in it. The entire state cannot be defamed just because of a filmmaker's imagination," Pacheco said.

In February, Goa Police as well as Chief Minister Digambar Kamat had said that they would be asking the film's director to have a special screening of the film, prior to its release, for the officials in Goa.

The tourism industry in Goa has also cited concerns about the projections of the state in the film, with a top tourism trade official saying that "the film could have bad repercussion for tourism in Goa, if it throws up scenes of prostitution and drugs".

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