Mob stops 'Mangal Pandey' screening in hometown

Lucknow, Aug 13 (IANS) Angry about the allegedly distorted depiction of freedom hero Mangal Pandey, youths in his hometown Ballia raised slogans against Aamir Khan and prevented the screening of the film, "Mangal Pandey - The Rising" there.

Demonstrators blocked highways, roads and even obstructed movement of trains in and around Ballia town on Friday. They tore posters of the film and destroyed video CDs on the streets.

According to a district official, "We had a tough time tackling protestors, who were mostly college students." He said, "Police even had to resort to mild force to control the mobs at certain places on Friday, and today again we are anticipating trouble."

Even in neighbouring Varanasi, the film could be released only under heavy police protection, as demonstrators had warned against screening it.

Mangal Pandey, hanged in 1857 for rising in revolt against British rule, is considered the first martyr of the Indian freedom movement. The film on his life had been released across the country Friday.

"We had ordered a print to be screened here, but local people are so emotionally charged over certain contents of the film that they have been staging demonstrations and protests, so I decided not to pick up my copy from the distributor in Delhi," Ashok Jaiswal, owner of Vijay cinema told IANS from Ballia, near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.

"Locals have been raising serious objections against the portrayal of Pandey as some kind of a womaniser. They also want to know why there was no mention of the martyr's birthplace, Ballia," Jaiswal said.

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Mangal Pandey - The Rising