Screening of 'The Accidental Prime Minister' stopped in Kolkata theatres, Anupam Kher urges peace

The controversial movie “The Accidental Prime Minister”, which has been receiving negative reviews amid protests across the country, has faced further hurdle on Saturday after its screening was stopped at two single-screen theatres and one auditorium of a multiplex chain in Kolkata following protests by Youth Congress workers against the film. "We've stopped the screening of the film from today, the second day after its release, apprehending (any) untoward incident after parts of a screen were torn up in a multiplex in a mall at Park Circus," Navin Chokhani, the owner of single-screen Navina Cinema, said.

The movie's screening was stopped, though its 2-pm show on the first day had passed off smoothly, Chokhani said.

A spokesperson of Ashoka Cinema, the other single screen where the film was stopped, said: "We have decided to suspend the matinee show of The Accidental Prime Minister from today in view of the agitations by some group."

The movie, starring Anupam Kher and Akshaye Khanna in main lead roles, is based on the memoir of the same name by Sanjaya Baru, the media adviser to former prime minister Manmohan Singh.

On Friday, activists of the Congress' youth wing had staged protests against the movie outside an auditorium of a multiplex chain on Ganesh Chandra Avenue and tore the film posters. Another group of the Youth Congress activists had stormed into the auditorium of the same multiplex chain at Park Circus during a late-evening show and allegedly tore parts of the screen. The multiplex chain spokesperson told PTI that the show of the film was cancelled from Saturday only at Hind -- its property on Ganesh Chandra Avenue -- and nowhere else in the city or in the suburbs.

Kher, who played Manmohan Singh in the film, tweeted on Saturday: "An appeal to the authorities to stop a section of people who are indulging in acts of violence and hooliganism during the screening of our film The Accidental Prime Minister. Also a call out to other sections of people who believe in selective outrage towards freedom of expression.”

An appeal to the authorities to stop a section of people who are indulging in acts of violence & hooliganism during the screening of our film #TheAccidentalPrimeMinister. Also a call out to other section of people who believe in selective outrage towards #FreedomOfExpression.🙏 pic.twitter.com/ULgSPj2H5l

— Anupam Kher (@AnupamPKher) January 12, 2019

On Friday, the Delhi Youth Wing of the Shiromani Akali Dal wrote to cinema halls urging them not to show the film as it defames both Manmohan Singh and the country across the globe.

In Punjab's Ludhiana, the film's screening was stopped in a multiplex following protests, reported News18.

(With PTI inputs)