Not banned, Narendra Modi flick finds little audience

VADODARA: Gujarati flick 'Namo Saune Gamo' that invited criticism from Congress has been removed from movie screens in the city. The movie was not screened in the multiplex on Sunday. While the district officials said the movie didn't get any response from audiences, the producer said they were waiting for clearance from Gujarat chief electoral officer (CEO).
Congress leaders had recently filed a complaint with the election officials and objected to the movie's title that included a word 'Namo'. BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is nicknamed NaMo by his supporters. Congress leaders had urged the election officials to ban the movie till the elections are over and include production expenses in Modi's candidature expenditure.
A team of election officials from the district election office (DEO) saw the movie on Saturday and prepared a report. The report stated that there was nothing objectionable in the movie that can be related to any candidate. The report was sent to CEO.
"We have not put any ban or ordered suspension of its screening. The movie wasn't screened on Sunday as probably they are not getting enough audiences. There were just 15 people on Saturday and nine on Friday in the movie hall," said Dr Vinod Rao, district election officer (DEO).
When contacted, one of the movie producers, Amar Danny admitted that they didn't screen the movie on Sunday. But he said they were waiting for clearance from the CEO. "We didn't screen the movie as we thought it would be better to wait for the CEO's clearance as we don't want any legal trouble," Danny said. When asked about extremely low audience turnout, Danny said confusion over release of the movie and lack of proper promotion by the multiplex may have led to fewer turnouts.
Interestingly, Congress had alleged that BJP is distributing free tickets for the movie. The movie that revolves around the backdrop of a terror attack in Mumbai and one of its accused being nabbed from Gujarat, had already come into focus when it was to be released before the assembly polls in 2012. The story talks about what would happen if a terrorist was caught in Gujarat. One of the key characters bears resemblance to Modi and Congress had pointed this out to the Election Commission of India.