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Sena activists disrupt Fire screening in Bombay as CM applauds

The women's wing of the Shiv Sena, partner of the ruling coalition in Maharashtra, today prevented the screening of Fire, a film by Canada-based Deepa Mehta which is currently being shown in two theatres in the city. The film depicts an intimate relationship between two women.

According to the Azad Maidan police, around 250-300 activists of the women's wing of the Sena gathered outside Empire cinema in south Bombay in the morning. Shouting slogans, they demanded a ban on the screening of the film in the city.

However, as per an eye-witness account, the demonstrators tried to enter the theatre forcibly but were prevented from doing so by the police on bandobast duty. Window panes of the showcase in the foyer of the cinema were broken in the melee.

Later, a delegation met the theatre management requesting it to ban the show which resulted in the film not being screened by the management throughout the day today. A board was put outside the theatre saying ''no show would be held today''. The women activists were demanding a ban on its screening, since the film was "against the country's culture".

Similar demonstrations were held at Cinemax theatre in north Bombay, where the film's screening was stopped by the women's activists, the sources said.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Manohar Joshi came out in support of the protesters and congratulated them for their act. He said whatever was depicted in the film was against our culture and "I am personally against such form of art". When asked whether disrupting a film is justified, he said, ''Culture is more important than glorification of art.''

UNI

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