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I won't deal with thugs, says Deepa

Suparn Verma

On Sunday Deepa Mehta was stopped in her tracks before she could begin shooting for her film Water.

A week later after much ado, she began shooting once again, but district magistrate Alok Kumar suspended the shooting once again, citing law and order problem.

rediff.com spoke to both sides and a very different picture of the current stalemate emerged.

The district magistrate gave the following version.

"I suspended shooting following massive protests at Bhadaini, near Aasi ghat. People were on fast, many processions were taken out, and a Shiv Sainik, Arun Kumar Pathak, even tried to commit suicide by drowning himself. So in the best interest of law and order I have suspended the shooting, even for Monday.

"I heard they managed to shoot something, their crew reached the venue at 2 pm and I gave them my orders at 4.30 pm. I had sent five companies (125 men per company) of security forces, along with other guards to maintain the crew's security.

"The locals are confused, they say there are two scripts in existence. While the I&B ministry was shown one, the shooting is based on another. The basic point is they object to the theme, so they won't let it be shot. I am not mediating between the two parties, in fact there is no communication right now."

However, an angry Deepa Mehta blew Kumar's claim to smithereens.

"We reached our site at 11 am and even shot three scenes. As for the 'huge' procession they are talking about, there were no more than 12-50 people there, and they were one and a half kilometres away from us. Aren't even five companies enough to control them?

"As for the suicide attempt, that man is a professional suicide, he has so far been hospitalised seven times for attempting to commit suicide. In fact he went into the water three times before he managed to draw the attention of the camera crew who were there.

"First the district magistrate told us to suspend shooting, I asked him to give it in writing, that took another three hours, now they have called and told us that he is suspending shooting indefinitely. I have asked for that in writing too, so that I can show it to the central government.

"They have no way of stopping us because I have everything cleared, so they are using the law and order situation as an excuse. Basically the district magistrate is a puppet in the hands of the chief minister who is taking orders from the VHP's Ashok Singhal. In fact Ashok Singhal wanted Mahant Veer Mishra and Shivji Upadhyay, two learned men to read the script and approve it after which he will withdraw his objection. They have in fact given a press statement that they found nothing objectionable in the script. Now it's all about egos and politics and we are nothing but pawns in this game."

Asked if the Sanskar Bharti, the cultural wing of the RSS, approached her for roles, Deepa Mehta said, "Anup Vohra from the Sanskar Bharti approached me, but I said no.

"What embarrasses me so much is that they are focussing their attention on all this while Kashmiri Pandits are being slaughtered. I mean we are just making a film!

"If this film is not allowed to be shot it will be the end of democracy in India. It will show that the state government is being totally run by thugs.

"As of now I have no idea what we will do next. It's a complete stalemate, I'm not even speaking to the opposing parties because having dealt with learned men, I won't deal with thugs."

SEE COMPLETE COVERAGE:
Fire over Water

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