Nearly 11 months after it was denied a censor certificate on various grounds, Hindi feature film Modi Ka Gaon—now renamed as Modi Kaka Ka Gaon—loosely inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's development agenda, will finally hit the screens all over India on Friday, the filmmakers said.
"In the first phase, the Hindi film will be released for around 600 screens in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, east Punjab and Uttarakhand. The rest of the country will be covered soon thereafter," film producer Suresh K. Jha told IANS.
Promos, posters and banners went up on prominent roads and several cinema halls and multiplexes in Mumbai city and suburbs, besides other cities in the country this week, heralding Modi Kaka Ka Gaon.
The development comes close on the heels of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) giving the censor certificate to the movie in late November. It had been refused for eight months since last February.
Jha reiterated that the film is "not a biopic on Modi", but the story has been inspired by the Prime Minister's vision and agenda for the country's progress.
"I am keen that the work of the great leader should be highlighted since some people are making false propaganda and harming the country's interests," Jha said.
In February this year, then CBFC Chairman Pahlaj Nihalani had declined to certify the film on various gorunds and set a precondition of a No-Objection Certificate from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and Election Commission of India (ECI) for clearing it.
Jha wrote to the PMO and ECI, but they did not respond, after which he moved the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) and won the case there in October.
In its October 12 order, the FCAT said that there are no statutory basis or justifiable requirements for getting NOC from PMO and ECI.
Nihalani's reluctance stemmed from the ongoing assembly elections in some states at that time (early 2017), the resemblance of the main protagonist to Modi, references to Pakistan's Uri attacks, news-speeches related to the PM and a character named 'Pappu' Bihari featuring in the film.
