Film producers to meet Home Minister Rajnath Singh amid row over ADHM

Producers Mukesh Bhatt and Siddharth Roy Kapur are amongst those who will be meeting the union minister.

New Delhi: Film & Television Producers Guild of India president Mukesh Bhatt and Apoorva Mehta from Dharma Productions, which is behind "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil", will meet Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday to discuss the smooth release of the upcoming film.

Vijay Singh of Fox Star Studios will also accompany them during the afternoon meeting with Rajnath Singh.

“I have come here with tremendous hope that Government of India will understand us and provide us full security. Those who don't want to watch the film are free to not watch it,but they should not stop others,” Mukesh Bhatt said.

While earlier reports claimed that Karan Johar will also be part of the delegation, Mukesh Bhatt clarified that he would not.

"Karan Johar will not be in the delegation, Dharma Productions's Apurva Mehta& Fox Star's Vijay Singh will be there," Mukesh Bhatt said.

Director Karan Johar will skip the meeting as he is busy with the post-production of the film in Mumbai, sources added.

The movie, which stars Fawad Khan, ran into trouble after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) said they won't let any movie featuring Pakistani artistes release in India.

Johar had only recently broken his silence on the ongoing controversy over his movie, as it is facing a boycott by many theatres across the country, in the backdrop of growing tensions between India and Pakistan.

In an emotional video statement released on Tuesday, Mr Johar said that he would “not engage talent from neighbouring country given the circumstance” but also made a public appeal for his film.

Amid growing voices from a section of politicians and film bodies to stall the release of ADHM or erase sections that has Fawad in it, Mr Johar, said: “I beseech you to know one thing...that over 300 Indian people in my crew have put their blood, sweat and tears in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and I don’t think it's fair to them to face any kind of turbulence on account of other fellow Indians”.

After facing backlash on social media with abusing him and calling him “anti-national”, “coward” and “Fawad Khan’s wife”, Mr Johar said that he stayed silent because he felt a “deep sense of hurt and pain” to be questioned about his patriotism.

“Today I would like to clarify that the reason why I remained silent is because of the deep sense of hurt and pain that I felt. There are few people who actually believe that I am being anti-national. I need to say this and I say this with strength that for me my country comes first,” the popular filmmaker said.