Mumbai: Director Vinod Tiwari has decided to drop his upcoming film Zila Gorakhpur after the first look of the film generated controversy and incited political allegation.
Soon after the poster of the film surfaced online, many Twitter users had pointed out the uncanny resemblance of the saffron-clad godman hiding a gun behind his back in the poster to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Rumours were doing the rounds that the film was a biopic on the UP CM. A media outlet even claimed that Tiwari's film was based on mob lynchings in his state.
Dismissing such assumptions as 'false' and 'baseless', the filmmaker said during a telephonic interview to CNN-News18, "When I saw that the poster of my film was being taken in such a negative way, I felt that in the favor of national interest, I should stop making this film."
The filmmaker added that he does not want to do anything that would hurt popular sentiments.
Tiwari claimed that he makes films for entertainment, and with Zila Gorakhpur, too, he had set out to make a commercial film and had no intention of maligning Yoga Adityanath's image or making a film on him.
"I was really hurt by how this became such a big controversy. We, the makers of the film are Indians, and therefore, we do care about the national sentiments. We would never do anything to hurt such sentiments" added the filmmaker.
The matter started taking a turn for the worse late on Sunday when BJP leader IP Singh from his Twitter handle (unverified) alleged that the makers are doing this film for 'cheap publicity' and challenged the producers to release it. Singh claimed that the film portrayed the Nath community and Yogi Adityanath in a bad manner which will not be tolerated.
यह ना सिर्फ मान @myogiadityanath जी की छवि को खंडित करने का बल्कि पूरी हिन्दू सभ्यता, नाथ-सम्प्रदाय को कलंकित करने का भी प्रयास है, मैं निर्माताओं को खुली चुनौती देता हूँ कि अगर हिम्मत है तो यह फिल्म रिलीज़ कर के दिखाएं, सस्ती लोकप्रियता के लिए ऐसी नीचता बर्दाश्त नहीं की जाएगी। pic.twitter.com/CVf1oi9VcS — IP Singh (@ipsinghbjp) July 29, 2018
According to his Twitter handle, Singh did not stop at daring the makers to release the film, but also went ahead and registered a case against the makers of Zila Gorakhpur at Vibhuti khand police station in Lucknow.
सस्ती लोकप्रियता के लिए नाथ संप्रदाय और हिंदू सभ्यता पर हमला क़त्तई बर्दाश्त नहीं करूँगा, फ़िल्म ‘ज़िला गोरखपुर’ में माननीय @myogiadityanath की छवि को खंडित करने वाले आपत्तिजनक पोस्टर पर आप सभी के आदेश पर विभूतिखंड थाने में निर्माताओं के ख़िलाफ़ मुक़दमा दर्ज करा दिया है। pic.twitter.com/zXuBBw0IOF — IP Singh (@ipsinghbjp) July 29, 2018
Singh also claimed that according to some reports that he had received the film was part of a political agenda and alleged that Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi was involved in it.
सूत्रों से जानकारी मिल रही हैकि इसके पीछे मुम्बई से सपा नेता अबू आज़मी का हाथ बताया जा रहाहै 2019लोकसभा चुनावसे पहले विकास पुरुष,कानून व्यवस्था,के रूपमें मजबूती केसाथ उभर रहे पूज्यनीय योगीजी की छवि को तार-2 करने की साजिश रची जा रहीहै जिसे किसी भी सूरतमें बर्दाश्त नही किया जायेगा pic.twitter.com/Zlk5Bzx6qf — IP Singh (@ipsinghbjp) July 30, 2018
Tiwari, however, vehemently dismissed such claims. "I have personally not received any information of an FIR being filed against me," said the filmmaker. Tiwari revealed that the film wasn't even on the floor and the casting was also yet to be finalized.
The filmmaker said, "We had just got the first lookout as a part of primary promotions, but haven't yet started working on it and now we have completely dropped the project."
Before the whole Zila Gorakhpur controversy, Tiwari had released two films. His Bhojpuri film Tabadla (2017) had hit the screens last year, and this year the filmmaker had made, Teri Bhabhi Hai Pagle.
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