After much wait and speculation, the makers of Kedarnath unveiled the teaser of their upcoming film a few days ago. Kedarnath managed to glue everyone to the screen from the word go, courtesy the powerful love story of Sara Ali Khan and Sushant Singh Rajput.
Sara, who is making her Bollywood debut with the movie, features as a tourist-pilgrim Mukku, who embarks on the 14-km journey from Gauri Kund to Kedarnath at a time when the sudden and devastating Kedarnath floods destroyed Uttarakhand in 2013. Sushant Singh Rajput plays Mansoor, a 'pitthu' who helps Mukku complete her journey on a 'kandi’ and survive the tragedy. As nature appears to play the role of the antagonist in the film, Mansoor and Mukku's love sprouts defying all odds.
Right after its first glimpse, the film is facing rough waters. Teerth purohits (priests) of the shrine town of Kedarnath in Uttarakhand’s Chardham have demanded that a blanket ban be imposed on the movie stating that it hurts the Hindu religious sentiments and promotes ‘Love Jihad’.
The term ‘love jihad’ refers to alleged campaigns under which Muslim men target the non-Muslim women for conversion to Islam.
According to a Hindustan Times report, Vinod Shukla, chairman, Kedar Sabha, an organisation of the priests based in Kedarnath said, “We will launch an agitation if the movie is not banned as we have been told that it hurts the Hindu religious sentiments by promoting ‘love jihad’.â€Â
Shukla said the priests had strongly protested against the film when its “vulgar dance sequences†were being shot around Kedarnath shrine. Incidentally, locals have already started protesting against its release.
On Thursday, a group of people at the district headquarters town of Rudraprayag organised a protest against the film.“A similar demonstration was also held at Kotdwar,†said Ajendra Ajay, a state BJP leader who has held a minister-level post.
The filmmakers refused to clarify the objections raised by the BJP and the priests to the film, saying they have yet to watch it.
Film’s director, Abhishek Kapoor denied allegations and revealed the inspiration behind helming this movie.Â
The filmmaker said in an interview with TimesNow, "Politics and others issues are constantly dividing us but at the core, we are one community that has always lived in harmony. Differences between Hindus and the Muslims only started around 40-50 years ago. It wasn’t there during the time of our elders, it wasn’t there during my yatra too. The film grew out of this realization. Two years earlier, massive floods had ravaged Kedarnath. Taking that as a backdrop, I tailored my Kedarnath."
The film is slated to release on December 7, 2018, and the teaser itself has got fans curious to see what the film has in store for them.Â
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