Do Kaliyaan, Shah Rukh Khan, Mani Ratnam: 6 times Shiv Sena took on Bollywood

Bollywood may be paying the ultimate tribute to Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray with Thackeray being made on his life and times. The film has Nawazuddin Siddiqui playing the Maharashtrian leader. Directed by Abhijit Panse, Thackeray releases tomorrow (January 25). And while there are several B-Towners, who can’t stop raving about the late leader’s helpful acts, there have been times when his Shiv Sena has in fact caused trouble in Bollywood. The films that faced the ire were the ones who either hinted on showing their leader in a bad light or had any negative aspect about Hindutva. But topping this list would be the party’s anti-South Indian stand that even forced people to flee the city. Let’s take a look at some of those instances!

# Way back in the ’60s when Shiv Sena started their anti-South Indian campaign, Neetu Singh’s film Do Kaliyaan was pulled out of cinema halls as it was produced by Gemini Studios. Later they also protested against a scene in the film Samajh Ko Badal Daalo, where a saffron flag was shown.

# In 1993, the theatres had to withdraw any film that featured AK Hangal, only because the senior actor had visited Pakistan. Bal Thackeray and his party forced theatre-owners to delete his scenes from some of his films including Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja.

# One may recall the fact that filmmaker Mani Ratnam was asked to hold a special screening of Bombay for Thackeray and Sharad Pawar, as his film had the backdrop of the Bombay riots.

# In 2002, Manisha Koirala objected to producer director Shashilal Nair using her body-double for a nude scene in a film, while promoting it. The actress had approached the Shiv Sena supremo demanding the deletion of the scene. Well, the film did not release in Maharashtra.

# Shah Rukh Khan has always been a soft target of political parties. SRK’s My Name Is Khan ran into trouble, when the star spoke in favour of having Pakistani cricketers in Indian Premiere League. Again just before the release of his film Raees, Sena’s Chattisgarh unit had threatened exhibitors as the film had a Pakistani actress Mahira Khan in it. Not much happened as the makers of the film did not use her in the promotion of the film.

# And how can one forget the bitter clash that took place in 1971 at the Kohinoor Cinema in Dadar. Interestingly this clash has even been shown in Thackeray. Dev Anand’s film Tere Mere Sapne had replaced Dada Kondke’s Songadya, which was a successfully-running Marathi film at the theatre. This angered Marathi-speaking moviegoers. As news of this replacement reached the Sena Bhavan, party members and locals marched to the theatre to protest the move.

What do you guys have to say about these incidents? Share with us your thoughts in the comments section below! Also stay tuned to Cine Blitz as we get you all the dope and updates about Thackeray right here.