In an embarrassing show of no-confidence in the Congress-led state government, multiplex and theatre owners on Thursday decided not to release the Shah Rukh Khan flick, My Name Is Khan, in Mumbai and other parts of the state on Friday.
Exhibitors will now take a wait-and-watch approach to the release of the film in Maharashtra. Late-night reports said multiplex owners would meet again on Friday morning to take a final call and it might be decided that each multiplex chain would release the film at only one multiplex and wait for the response. But no consensus emerged till late in the night as the fear factor weighed oppressively on every multiplex owner's mind.
Tinsel town insiders reacted with shock and dismay at the possible no-show of the movie in Bollywood capital and were calculating financial losses but civil society in Mumbai said the loss went much beyond the movie's profit-and-loss economics. The general feeling was that the multiplex owners' fears exposed an enormous lack of confidence in the government's ability to take on political blackmail and provide protection against vandalism.
Chief minister Ashok Chavan tried his best to get the theatre owners to screen the film on Friday, promising them ``full security''. ``They (the theatre owners) must release the film,'' he said. But his assurance found no takers either in Mumbai, the Sena's hometown, or elsewhere in the state.
The multiplex owners' apprehensions, besides being a major embarrassment for Chavan and the government, put a huge pressure on Khan to make it up to the Thackerays as a film's performance in Mumbai can make or mar its overall fortunes. A teleconference between the actor (in Berlin) and the producers came off in the evening, when Khan was formally told of Mumbai theatre owners' decision, but the mood in the Khan camp was downbeat even before that.
Khan stuck to his decision not to ``apologise'' to anyone but the `tweets' he sent out during the day were markedly conciliatory. ``(I) feel awful that Balasaheb and Uddhav have misconstrued my words. The reactions of the Sena workers seem to make me believe that. Don't want mayhem, anger and violence 'cos of our beautiful film which talks about repairing a bruised and divided world. I hope my tweets clear this cloud of confusion. I hope peace prevails and the city is at rest. Nobody wants Mumbaikars or their property hurt and destroyed, least of all me. This also is the last time I clarify or say anything on this topic. This is not a justification, it's just reiterating the facts,'' he said. But he seemed to have resigned himself to the no-show. ``Now what happens with the release, the film, is the film's fate,'' he tweeted.
Mumbai's multiplex owners, too, seemed to have resigned themselves to living with the Sena. ``I think the uncertainty over the release of one film and the risk that we would have taken by releasing this one film is not worth it. Several other films are showing in my multiplex and I don't want to lose that revenue as well,'' a multiplex owner in the central suburbs said. His was one of the cinemas targeted by the Sena on Tuesday.
Another multiplex owner from Navi Mumbai admitted that the government's assurances paled in comparison to the fear factor. ``A plex screen costs between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 11 lakh and one stone can damage it irretrievably. Why should we take the risk?'' he added.
There is another huge fact that plex owners had to bear in mind when they decided that life without MNIK probably made more sense in the current circumstances. Most of the multiplexes run out of leased property and owners say they cannot bear the consequences of any damage to that property for the sake of one film. ``We have to live with the Sena and we don't have the confidence that cops can give us blanket security cover 365 days a year,'' a western suburbs mall owner admitted. ``But we will wait till Friday morning to take a final call,'' he added.
Chief minister Chavan and home minister Patil, however, felt the plex owners were chickening out without reason. Chavan, even at 6.30 in the evening, refused to admit that multiplex owners had decided not to screen the movie. ``I have no such information and we have spared no effort in providing cinemas security. But whether or not they want to screen the film is finally the hall owners' decision. The state's job is to maintain law and order and lawlessness will be dealt with firmly,'' he said, regretting that cops - trained to tackle terrorism and the naxal threat - had to be diverted to take care of problems that did not have ``any solid issue''.
``I said the issue should be settled amicably but people misconstrued it as softness,'' he said.
Patil went a step further, accusing the theatre owners of going back on their word. ``It's unfortunate that theatre owners have backtracked. They had promised us they would release the movie if given adequate protection. But it appears they have gone back on their word despite our best efforts,'' he added.
Congress circles, however, felt the government had been backstabbed by Patil's leader, NCP supremo
Sharad Pawar. ``The decision to go and meet Bal Thackeray immediately after Rahul Gandhi's whirlwind tour of the city, which had the Sena squirming, gave Balasaheb that much-needed lifeline,'' a senior Congress functionary said.
The Sena did not take too much time to latch on to that lifeline. Leaders bragged on Friday that the decision to go after MNIK had - in one stroke - exposed the ``soft'' chief minister, brought the Congress down to earth after the Rahul Gandhi-provided high and ``showed Raj Thackeray his place''.
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