Abhishek Kapoor Urges Uttarakhand Government To Lift 'Ban' On 'Kedarnath'

Director Abhishek Kapoor shared on Twitter that he had urged the government of Uttarakhand to lift the ban on his film ‘Kedarnath’.

Despite the fact that the state government did not officially ban the film, it has written to every district magistrates informing them about the contents of the film that have triggered many debates in India. When a committee led by Satpal Maharaj, the Tourism Minister, submitted a report about the film, a meeting has been held to revise it. This meeting has been chaired by Trivendra Singh Rawat, the Chief Minister and after that, the government made a decision to let the district administration decide whether to ban the film or not.

The state government gave the district magistrates full authority to make decisions to whether release or ban the film depending on their situations. Afterwards, the film “Kedarnath” has been banned in several districts such as Udhamsinghnagar, Pauri, Haridwar, Tehri, Almora, Nainital and Dehradun.

This Hindi film is set against the backdrop of the flash floods occurred in Kedarnath in 2013. Since the first days of its shooting, the film has been severely criticized and opposed by conservative activists as they claimed that it violated religious sentiments of Hindus and supported the concept of “Love Jihad”.

Featuring Sushant Singh Rajput and rookie Sara Ali Khan in key roles, the film was shot in several locations including Rambada, Triyuginarayan, Soneprayag, Gaurikund, Chopta and Kedarnath and was protested against even then. On Thursday, The High Court of Uttarakhand declined to ban “Kedarnath” and requested that those seeking ban on the film approach higher committee of District Magistrate with those complaints.

“Kedarnath” earned Rs 7.25 crore at the box office on its first day in India.