26 February,2009 11:29 AM IST | | Alisha Coelho
If any one can understand the problem of Jaswant Khera, producer of upcoming Bobby Deol starrer Ek, it is Deshdrohi producer and lead actor Kamaal Khan.
Reacting to media reports about the Censor Board's disapproval over dialogues in Ek, Kamaal Khan told MiD DAY that if such dialogues existed in the movie, they should be removed.
The film's promos show the actor with a narrator in the background voicing the following dialogue, "Aam aadmi ko maarna hai? Dus hazaar ka desi katta aur ek Bihari. Kaam khatam."
After the airing of the promo, due to public outrage, the Censor Board was forced to ask the producers to either beep the word 'Bihari' out or drop it from the promo.
Khan, whose recent movie Deshdrohi, which was based on the anti-immigrant issue in Mumbai, said that while all requests by the Censor Board were acceptable, restrictions from other 'self-appointed censors' like politicians, was not.
"This movie will obviously not be received well in Bihar or even in areas of the city like Bhiwandi. Even I was forced to remove the word Marathi from the dialogues of my film Deshdrohi. However even after I received High Court and Supreme Court clearance, politicians in Maharashtra didn't let my film be screened, which was unfair."
In spite of his bitter experience Khan, is sympathetic toward Khera, who has been receiving threatening calls after Ek's promo was aired. "The film industry is a divided community. Everyone is so scared for themselves that no one comes together to fight for our rights to freedom of expression.
"When I called a press conference for my movie, so many people told me they'd attend, but all developed amazing excuses to skip the conference the night before. As long as we don't stick together, how can we ensure that our freedom isn't compromised?"
