Shorgul says we want to raise right kind of noise: Producer Samira Kelkar

It will definitely give you a birds eye overview of what had happened in India as a policy and not as just one Godhra, one Muzaffarnagar, one Babri. It’s not that. It’s about the ideologies that spark these kinds of movements and that’s what will get people to wake up and think and say that OK I saw this film and this is what it is. It is the subject of humanity. It is what people go through. It is of law, it is of that complete fear of a person who’s mind becomes extremist because of some govt’s mentality.

Q. So does that mean that the film doesn’t depict any real incidents?

It does definitely. But the kind of reality is of may be the riots that happened in Muzaffarnagar, may be riots that happened in Bombay, may be the riots that happened in Godhra. These are sparked by various ideologies and that’s what is coming to life with a simple story of a regular common man who’s life is not even associated with politics or religion but he becomes a victim of somebody’s vote bank politics.

Q. Why the release date of your film has been pushed further? Why are cinema hall managers apprehensive?

We’ve been struggling to ensure that we release the film on June 24. It’s a huge financial loss and there’s lot of ups and downs that has happened. Till Tuesday we had 650 screens confirmed and we were going ahead with the release and everything was really smooth. But we were facing difficulty now as there’s a sudden sense of apprehensions. There were many theatre owners who were developing cold feet but officially they could not let us know why they were saying they can’t release it as “Upar se order aaya hai”. I mean without even understanding the entire story of the film, they have related it to Muzaffarnagar riots and the leaders involved in it. If the movie had something wrong in it, it would not have been cleared by the CBFC. So now we are looking to shift to July 1 that is next Friday but I don’t know whether we will get those many screens.

Q. Even PIL and Fatwa have been issued against the actors and makers of the film. Does your movie defames anyone in particular?

When the PIL happened, again that was on the same ground that a particular leader’s image has been tarnished. But we have not done that. We have not referred to any leader. It’s not like showing any leader in bad light. The PIL, of course went to the High Court and the court slammed the entire thing saying it has already been cleared by the censor board. So we thought that all the problems were over. But now we are seeing another kind of pressure. That do happen in India and that do happen with political parties who has that kind of power and we were feeling that for sure.

Fatwa were issued sighting some dialogues in the promos. The Muslim body found those dialogues very hurtful and instigating. This kind of mindset is what we are really trying to bring out with the film. We are trying to show that there are parties all over trying to do this and in the middle of all this we are fighting and the guys on top are enjoying their success and leisure at our expense. And the Fatwa is the proof of that.

Q. Have you approached the state govt?

We have already spoken to the CM’s office. Akhilesh Yadavji has seen the snippet of a role that Sanjay Suri plays and he has given a go ahead. So we do have support from him and his office. They have assured us security in such way that nothing happens. So I urge the theatre owners to show this film and if people don’t like it then remove it from the theatres. At least give us a chance. The idea is to show intelligent cinema so that people start thinking. Shorgul says we want to raise right kind of noise.