Shooting of 'Water' begins

VARANASI, FEB. 5. The filmmaker, Ms. Deepa Mehta, today began shooting indoors of her film, Water, even as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad president, Mr. Ashok Singhal, threatened to disrupt its filming even at the cost of his life.

Ms. Mehta took the first close-up shots of eight-year- old Urvi, who plays the lead role of a child widow, at the Clarks Towers hotel, where the film unit is lodged, the director's brother, Mr. Dilip Mehta, told PTI.

The shooting commenced after Ms. Mehta and the script writer, Mr. Anurag Kashyap, held talks with senior religious leaders of the city, including Mahant Veerbadra Misra of the famous Sankat Mochan temple and Shivji Upadhyay of the Kashi Vidwat Parishad.

The State Home Secretary, Mr. V. K. Mittal, told reporters in Lucknow that the shooting began after Ms. Mehta showed the script of the film to the Mahant.

Mr. Singhal remained adamant saying the shooting would proceed only over his ``dead body'' and that if the people of Kashi ``decide not to allow the shooting it will not be allowed anywhere in the country''.

As Ms. Mehta began filming two days after the Information and Broadcasting Ministry approved her revised script, several Bajrang Dal activists staged a demonstration outside the hotel and burnt her effigy. They later courted arrest.

The talks were held at the initiative of the District Magistrate, Mr. Alok Kumar, in an effort to take the people into confidence. The district administration has beefed up security for the film crew and deployed the rapid action force and provincial armed constabulary at key locations, including Tulsi Ghat.

Mr. Singhal, who arrived here today, threatened ``more violent protests'' against the film. Stating that his fight was not against the Government, he alleged that the film was part of a conspiracy by a U.S.-based Church group.

The Congress(I) workers also staged a demonstration in support of Ms. Mehta and burnt an effigy of Mr. Singhal at the Assi crossing.

`RSS not behind protests'

In another development, Ms. Deepa Mehta, in an interview to the ``Janata Ki Adalat'' programme on Star TV, has said that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was not behind the protests against her film and that the agitators were ``misguided and misinformed people''.

She said the RSS leader, Mr. K. S. Sudershan, had assured her that his organisation was not behind the agitation in Varanasi where the film is to be shot, according to a release from the network.

Defending her film, she said, ``I know with total and complete honesty that there is nothing in my film that denigrates Kashi. It is absolute misinterpretation. The film is progressive about women taking responsibility for themselves and saying you cannot do this to me anymore.''

Denying that she had bowed to cultural terrorism, Ms. Mehta clarified that she had only agreed to delete a few words.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Front Page
Previous : Delhi firm on condition for talks
Next     : Economic growth: Sinha optimistic