The Hindu : National : SAHMAT flays `unofficial' ban on `<I>Fanaa</I>'

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Saturday, May 27, 2006

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National

SAHMAT flays `unofficial' ban on `Fanaa'

Special Correspondent

"Censorship of culture by a motivated handful "

NEW DELHI: As the Aamir Khan-starrer `Fanaa' opened all over the country, except in Gujarat, on Friday, the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT) condemned the "unofficial" ban on the film in the State.

Condemning the "mob censorship," the SAHMAT urged the State people to stand up to the "censorship of culture by a motivated handful through violence."

Refusing to buy the State Government's claim that none of the agitations have "official sanction or are official positions of the Bharatiya Janata Party," the SAHMAT said: "The groups involved ... are all affiliated to the ruling party ... "

The pro-dam protestors had demanded an apology from Mr. Khan for his anti-dam stance. With Mr. Khan refusing to give in, the protesters have vowed not to allow the film's release till the actor tendered an apology. Theatre-owners in the State opted out, fearing vandalism.

The SAHMAT said the State "now has the distinction of allowing a small group of people with political affiliations and a clear agenda of communal hate politics to deprive the entire population of ... access to culture." This "follows the attack on and subsequent closure of the Garden Art Museum in Surat in 2004, the burning of the Husain Doshi Gufa in Ahmedabad and the `ban' on [M. F.] Husain's film, `Gaj Gamini' — all through violence or threats of violence."

Asserting that it was the Government's duty to protect the rights of artists and film-makers to show their work to the public and for the public to decide on the merits of the works," the statement said none of the works in question had been censored or banned by any State authority.

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