'Mardaani 2': Kota residents protest against film for showing city in bad light

They have also submitted a petition to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla

mardaani-imdb via IMDB

The trailer of Rani Mukerji's crime thriller Mardani 2 released earlier this week, and residents of the city of Kota, in Rajasthan where the movie is set, have come out in protest. The residents claimed the film shows Kota, India's IIT-JEE coaching hub, in bad light.

They have also submitted a petition to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who is also MP from Kota. According to reports, Birla said that he will discuss the issue with those concerned. “Maligning a city's name through cinema is not acceptable,” he said.

In the trailer, we see Rani Mukerji as police officer Shivani Shivajirao, and her journey to nab a serial rapist who has been brutally assaulting and killing young girls in the city. Dialogues in the trailer hint at how a serial rapist on the lose is too dangerous for a city like Kota where students come from various corners of the country for entrance coaching. In the 2014 film Mardaani, Mukerji tackled human trafficking.

India's 'coaching capital' Kota also has the notorious reputation as a 'suicide city', with reports of large number of students, unable to cope with the stress of competition, committing suicide.