AHMEDABAD: Parzania, the much talked about film based on the Gujarat riots of 2002, was not released in any part of the State on Friday.

There was no official word about any ban on the film but apparently the exhibitors did not want to take risk.The Bajrang Dal had told cinema theatre owners that they themselves should see the film first and decide about screening it for audience "keeping the interest of the State in mind."

The vague warning was sufficient for the exhibitors to refuse the film at the last moment.

The film was to have been released at some multiplexes in Ahmedabad and various other theatres in the Kutch and Saurashtra regions.

The film, based on the horrific attack on the Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad in which 39 people were burnt alive, failed to find distributors in Gujarat. Its producers had agreed to distribute the film directly even without any advance payment. It is learnt that the exhibitors had struck a deal with the producers that any loss caused by the opposition to the film would be borne by the producers.

Despite the guarantee, the exhibitors refused to release the film.

Fanaa case

Not long ago, the Sangh Parivar had managed to block the release of the Aamir Khan-starrer Fanaa in the State because of the Bollywood star's support to the Narmada dam project-affected people.

Utimately the film was released in a theatre in Jamnagar but it was withdrawn after a Bharatiya Janata Party sympathiser committed self-immolation.

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