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Laal Singh Chaddha: Exhibitors reduce 1300 shows because of empty theatres and cancelled shows on first day of the Aamir Khan movie

OpIndia Staff
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Laal Singh Chaddha: Exhibitors reduce 1300 shows because of empty theatres and cancelled shows on first day of the Aamir Khan movie

Aamir Khan’s latest film ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ has shown a very poor performance at the box office on its opening day, 11th August 2022. As a result of a low turnout and cancelled shows on the first day, the exhibitors have decided to reduce 1300 shows of the film on Friday 12th August 2022 when the actual weekend starts.

It is notable that Aamir Khan’s film was released on the occasion of the Hindu festival Raksha Bandhan and the release date followed a long weekend as independence day falls on Monday this year. But rather than getting any advantage of the long weekend at the box office, the exhibitors are forced to reduce the number of shows of ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ right when the weekend begins. Akshay Kumar’s film ‘Raksha Bandhan’ was also released on the same day. But it has also performed equally bad.

According to a report by Bollywood Hungama, on August 11, the two films, ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ and ‘Raksha Bandhan’, had a lacklustre opening at the box office. The two films together failed to gross a total of Rs. 20 crores on their first day, unable to capitalize on the Raksha Bandhan holiday. The opening day performance stunned the Hindi film industry and left the business in disarray.

The collection on the first day of the Aamir Khan starrer movie Laal Singh Chaddha is reported to be Rs 10-11 crores. It is reported to be the lowest opening that an Aamir Khan movie has seen in the past 13 years.

Due to the dismal performance at the box office, the theatre operators have proactively decreased the screenings of both ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ and ‘Raksha Bandhan’. A trade source said, “Both the films were released with around 10,000 shows across the country and neither of them warranted this sort of showcasing. Even on the opening day, the occupancy was as low as 10 to 12 people in maximum shows. Seeing the no-show, the exhibitors decided to reduce the showcasing of both the films on the second day to save up on the overheads and increase occupancy in the limited shows.”

It is notable here that boycott calls against Aamir Khan’s Lal Singh Chaddha have mired the promotion of the big-budget movie that is the official remake of Tom Hanks’s classic Forrest Gump. Aamir Khan’s anti-India statements in the past, his negative and derogatory portrayal of Hindu Gods in his movie PK and his overtly political statements of the past have all been adding to the prevailing sentiments of rejection among the audience of Hindi cinema. Even Kareena Kapoor’s past statements of mocking the audience and participating in politically motivated campaigns have stirred negative sentiments against the movie.

Aamir Khan has continued to peddle his specific agenda even in his latest release ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’. The movie has several scenes that are allegedly made to satisfy specific propaganda. Now that there is very less footfall in the talkies than expected, the theatre owners themselves are reducing the number of shows of this movie.

Apart from boycott calls, the movie was also panned by movie critics. Irrespective of political ideology, most film critics slammed the movie for being a very bad adaptation of the Hollywood masterpiece Forrest Gump. Critics also especially targeted Aamir Khan for his bad acting.

Divya Kakran vs AAP: Saurabh Bharadwaj says Delhi govt can’t reward athletes from other states; had earlier rewarded Haryana’s Bajrang Punia, Ravi Dahiya

OpIndia Staff
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Divya Kakran vs AAP: Saurabh Bharadwaj says Delhi govt can’t reward athletes from other states; had earlier rewarded Haryana’s Bajrang Punia, Ravi Dahiya

There seems no end to the escalating feud between CWG medalist Divya Kakran and the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi. Hours after AAP leaders countered allegations by the wrestler, stating that she represented Uttar Pradesh, the ace wrestler hit back at the Delhi government for politicising the issue.

Sharing a picture of Arvind Kejriwal greeting her with a bouquet, Kakran tweeted, “Anyone can honour a sportsperson, whether they belong to any party or from any state, there is no need to make it a political issue. plz”

Earlier yesterday, as the controversy snowballed, AAP leaders doubled down on their efforts to discredit the CWG medalist and impute political motivations behind her grievance.

Naresh Balyan, an AAP MLA from Delhi, shared a picture of BJP leaders in Uttar Pradesh felicitating Divya Kakran in one of their election offices and insinuated that it was one of the reasons why the CWG medalist has been cornering the AAP government in Delhi.

Another AAP MLA, Saurabh Bharadwaj, who is in the centre of a furore over defending the Delhi government against Kakran’s allegations, on Thursday said they could not offer cash rewards to the athlete as she represented Uttar Pradesh.

“Player lives in Delhi but has only played for the state till 2016-17. As for respect, CM called her in 2018 respectfully. We can’t give her cash rewards as she represents UP, but we’ve always respected her,” Bhardwaj said while defending the AAP government over allegations by Divya Kakran.

AAP government in Delhi felicitated Bajrang Punia, Ravi Dahiya, who represent Haryana state, with cash rewards

However, while Bhardwaj argues that the AAP government in Delhi could not reward athletes representing other states, it is worth noting Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, in April 2022, announced a cash reward of Rs 1 crores to Olympian Bajrang Punia, a wrestler who represents Haryana.

Similarly, in November 2021, the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government in Delhi gave Rs 2 crores ‘Samman Rashi’ to Tokyo Olympic star Ravi Dahiya. It also appointed him as assistant director in the Sports department. Like Punia, Dahiya too represents Haryana and has never played for Delhi. Yet, the Delhi government awarded him Rs 2 crores for his stellar performance at the Tokyo Olympics last year.

Kejriwal had also tweeted about the rewards given by the Delhi government to Olympians, which punctures claims made by AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj contending that the Delhi government cannot offer cash rewards to athletes belonging to other states.

How the controversy began: Wrestler Divya Kakran slams Delhi government for not supporting athletes, AAP’s Saurabh Bhardwaj hits back

Earlier yesterday, the athlete addressed a press conference to reveal that by the year 2017, she had earned around 58 medals for Delhi but decided to play for Uttar Pradesh from 2018 since the Delhi government did not provide any financial assistance to her.

The controversy began when Indian wrestler Divya Kakran stated that she did not get any support from Delhi Government despite promises. As Aam Aadmi Party-led (AAP) Delhi Government started to get criticism over the allegations, its MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj tried to claim that Kakran never represented Delhi. In reply to the August 9 tweet of Bharadwaj, Kakran produced certificates to prove she had represented Delhi between 2011 and 2017.

In a tweet, Kakran wrote, “I represented Delhi from 2011 to 2017. This is my certificate from Delhi State. If you still do not believe me, I can upload 17 Gold medal-related certificates as well.” It is noteworthy that she has won over 60 medals including 17 Gold medals in Delhi State Championship.

Divya Kakran thanked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for his wishes on winning a medal at Commonwealth Games 2022 and reminded him that despite the promises made by the Delhi Government, she did not receive any help from the state. Kakran had earlier highlighted the lack of support from the Delhi Government in 2018 as well.

Bharadwaj responded to the allegations by sharing screenshots of news reports that pointed to Divya Kakran representing her home state Uttar Pradesh. He wrote on August 7, “The whole country is proud of you sister. But I do not remember that you play for Delhi. You have always been playing for Uttar Pradesh. But the player is of the country. You do not expect respect from Yogi Adityanath Ji. I think the Chief Minister of Delhi will listen to you.”

Fan page of AAP leader claims UK PM Candidate Rishi Sunak is emulating ‘Delhi model’, Arvind Kejriwal shares it as mainstream news

OpIndia Staff
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Fan page of AAP leader claims UK PM Candidate Rishi Sunak is emulating ‘Delhi model’, Arvind Kejriwal shares it as mainstream news

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has courted controversy for falsely claiming that the UK Prime Ministerial candidate Rishi Sunak has vowed to emulate the ‘Delhi Model’ if he is elected to power. He shared a claim made by a page page of an AAP leader that Rishi Sunak is going to follow the so-called Delhi model.

In a tweet on Thursday (August 11), he posted the link to an article from a website named ‘news24India.org’, which claimed that ‘Kejriwal model’ was on display during the UK Prime Ministerial campaign. The archived version of the tweet can be accessed here.

The said article stated that Rishi Sunak has promised to help residents of the UK with their electricity bills amidst rising energy prices. News24India was quick to link it to Arvind Kejriwal’s dole of ‘free electricity’ and how it has helped the Aam Aadmi Party to win elections in both Delhi and Punjab.

Screengrab of the report

Logical fallacy in linking Rishi Sunak’s promises to Arvind Kejriwal’s freebie

The Delhi government had earlier launched a ‘scheme’ wherein all households in Delhi get ‘free electricity’ if monthly consumption is below 200 units. In case, the bill exceeds 200 units but remains within the 400 mark, households also get compensation of ₹800.

Although the plan was initially touted as encouraging households to consume less electricity, it had in fact aggravated the power crisis in the National Capital.

“The power ministry’s data showed that Delhi, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Kerala, Punjab and Bihar faced the worst power crisis. Most of it can be attributed to these state governments’ promise of free electricity to the citizens,” a report in Business Standard stated.

Arvind Kejriwal shared the contentious News 24 article at a time when his government has decided to pull a plug on the free electricity scheme. Earlier on May 5, he said, “Now cheap electricity will be optional in Delhi. That is, if a power consumer wants electricity subsidy, then he will get free or subsidised electricity from now.”

He further added, “Power subsidy will be given to those who ask for subsidised power from October 1.” On the contrary, Rishi Sunak had been advocating a £5 billion windfall tax on energy firms to help provide relief to UK residents in the aftermath of rising energy prices (caused in part by the Russia Ukraine war and the Western sanctions).

“The oil and gas sector is making extraordinary profits, not as the result of recent changes to risk-taking or innovation or efficiency, but as the result of surging global commodity prices driven in part by Russia’s war,” Sunak had said earlier.

Under such circumstances, the UK Prime Ministerial candidate had promised to provide £400 off on monthly bills from October as part of a relief package to UK residents faced with a cost-of-living crisis.

This cannot be compared with Arvind Kejriwal’s free electricity scheme wherein loss-making discoms were deliberately made to bear the more loss at a time when electricity prices were low.

News24 India does not appear as legitimate news portal

Besides the obvious logical fallacy, the website that published the article shared by Arvind Kejriwal looks fishy. It was first pointed out by Political Kida. On visiting the website of the supposed ‘news channel’, we stumbled upon the link to their Facebook channel. News24India also claimed to be an independent news portal.

Screengrab of the website of News24 Infia

Interestingly, the Facebook page of the news portal was earlier named ‘Dimple Singh fans.’

Screengrab of the Facebook page of News24 Infia

Coincidentally, Dimpal Singh happens to be the Vice-President of the Uttarkhand unit of the Aam Aadmi Party.

Screengrab of the Twitter profile of Dimpal Singh

A casual glance at the website of ‘News 24 India’ shows that its primary focus is on the State of Uttarkhand. While it is unclear whether the ‘news portal’ is a part of the AAP IT cell or run by AAP supporters, Arvind Kejriwal amplifying articles posted by it certainly raises doubts.

People continue to die in Bihar after drinking spurious liquor due to prohibition of Nitish Kumar, 5 die in Chhapra hooch tragedy

OpIndia Staff
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People continue to die in Bihar after drinking spurious liquor due to prohibition of Nitish Kumar, 5 die in Chhapra hooch tragedy

On Thursday, at least five died and 2 have fallen seriously ill after consuming poisonous liquor in the Chhapra district of Bihar. The ill persons are being treated at the city hospital while the Police have taken the dead bodies in their custody for the purpose of postmortem. The incident happened in the Bhualpur village of the Garkha police station area of the district on August 11.

According to the reports, all five deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours. This is a week after around 11 people had died after they consumed spurious liquor in Chhapra, Bihar. The Police then said that they would investigate the case and would take serious action against the accused but to no avail.

The relatives of the deceased meanwhile have confirmed that the reason behind death is nothing but the consumption of poisonous liquor. The police while investigating the case revealed that all the people who died had bought liquor from Muchkanpur on Thursday and that the person who sold the liquor had been selling the products illegally resulting in deteriorated health of the consumers.

After the death of 5 people was reported from the village, the local administration and the police swung into action and sent all the dead bodies to a hospital in Chhapra for postmortem. While the locals, relatives, and the police claim that spurious liquor has killed all the deceased, reports mention that the real reason for their death will be clear only after the postmortem reports are attained.

The deceased have been identified as Ramjivan Ram, Rohit Singh, Loha Singh, Pappu Singh, and Allauddin. The villagers have created outrage over the incident and are protesting against the sale of illegal liquor. The Police reportedly have camped in the area and raids are being executed to nab the accused in the case.

Excise superintendent Rajnish Kumar said that as soon as the information about the incident was received, the team of the department reached the village and started an investigation. “Only after investigation, it would be clear what exactly is the matter. However, recently, after the death of 13 people due to spurious liquor in Makar, questions are being raised on the sale of illegal alcohol due to a similar case coming to the fore in Garkha”, he was quoted.

To note, more than 50 deaths have been reported due to the consumption of spurious alcohol in Chhapra. Recently, on August 5, at least 11 people breathed last due to the consumption of spurious alcohol in Chhapra. Five people were arrested then for their alleged involvement in the manufacture and sale of hooch, while the SHO of the police station concerned and the local chowkidar were suspended. In the current case, the Police are investigating the case to confirm the exact reason for the recent deaths.

Illegal liquor has become a big problem in Bihar after Nitish Kumar govt declared Bihar a dry state and banned the sale and consumption of alcoholic drinks in the state in 2016. However, prohibition has not deterred the drinkers in the state. Why most people consume liquor smuggled into the state from other states, some resort to consuming potentially fatal spurious liquor.

Is Elon Musk coming up with a new social media platform to rival Twitter? Read what the Tesla CEO hinted at

OpIndia Staff
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Is Elon Musk coming up with a new social media platform to rival Twitter? Read what the Tesla CEO hinted at

In the middle of his bitter legal battle with Twitter, Elon Musk hinted at launching a new social media platform which he would refer as X.com.

In a cryptic Tweet on August 10, Wednesday, Elon Musk responded to one of his followers’ questions, who asked him his plausible course of action should the Twitter deal falls apart.

“Have you considered creating your own social platform? If the Twitter transaction falls through, what then?” an account on Twitter called “Tesla Owners Silicon Valley” queried, to which Elon Musk responded with, “X.com.”

Notably, X.com was the web address of a company that Musk co-founded in 1999 but it was later acquired by PayPal. In 2017, Musk bought the domain name back from PayPal. Shortly later, Musk declared the site’s relaunch, albeit all that is currently visible is a little “x” in the top left corner of a white screen.

Musk further hinted at his intentions for “X.com” in the “hopefully improbable event” that Twitter pushes this acquisition to complete and certain equity partners don’t come through.

Musk’s Tweet comes at a time when Musk is involved in a high-stakes legal battle with Twitter.

Elon Musk Vs Twitter

It may be recalled that on Friday (May 13), Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the 44 billion dollar Twitter deal has been temporarily put on hold, subject to the estimate that less than 5% of users on the micro-blogging platform are spam/fake accounts.

Elon Musk, who was already the largest individual shareholder of Twitter holding 9.2% of the company, had earlier stated that he had no faith in the management and couldn’t fulfil Twitter’s true potential under them. He aimed to make the company private so that he could have full control over it and could direct Twitter to fulfil its full potential.

Twitter’s board had tried its best to resist Elon Musk’s takeover bid, including trying to trigger the poison pill strategy. However, the price Musk offered coupled with the mood of the majority of Twitter shareholders eventually forced the Twitter board’s hand.

Elon Musk, who is already the CEO of electric vehicle giant Tesla and SpaceX, had sealed the fate of the micro-blogging platform in a 44 billion dollar deal. Following the takeover, Twitter Inc. has locked changes to its source code to prevent disgruntled employees from making unauthorised changes to the platform.

‘Pakistan Zindabad’, ‘Sar Tan Se Juda’ slogans raised in Jaunpur during Muharram, Mohammad Shakeel, Mohammad Jeeshaan and 2 others arrested

OpIndia Staff
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‘Pakistan Zindabad’, ‘Sar Tan Se Juda’ slogans raised in Jaunpur during Muharram, Mohammad Shakeel, Mohammad Jeeshaan and 2 others arrested

The Jaunpur police in Uttar Pradesh have arrested four people after a video went viral where a Muslim mob was heard raising ‘sar tan se juda’ and ‘Pakistan zindabad’ slogans during a Muharram procession. The video of the incident went viral on social media on August 10, Wednesday.

The incident reportedly took place in the Karianv Bazar of Mirganj police station area of ​​Jaunpur. On Wednesday, a group of Muslims were participating in the Tazia procession in the evening, when some Islamists in the crowd started shouting objectionable slogans and also tried to instigate the people belonging to the other community.

After the video went viral, the police sprung into action. It registered an FIR and arrested the people who chanted these slogans.

The Jaunpur police took to Twitter to apprise about the incident. Superintendent of Police (SP) Rural said, “It had come to light that during the Tazia procession, some objectionable slogans were raised. There were videos of the incident, it was investigated and the accused were traced. Since it was objectionable FIR was registered and four people were arrested. Action being taken.”

He further said that Mohammed Shakeel, Abdul Zabbar, Mohammed Jeeshan, and Mohammed Kharish were arrested for raising the hateful slogans.

Multiple murders in the name of “Gustakh-e-Nabi ki ek saza, sar tan se zuda”

India has seen murders and multiple threats in the name of blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed (Nabi) for nearly a century, with Mahashay Rajpal being a notable figure to lose his life. However, these incidents have spiked in recent days after Nupur Sharma’s incident where she commented on Prophet Mohammed.

Since then, we have seen the open beheading of Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur in broad daylight, the murder of Umesh Kolhe, and dozens of threats against individuals who supported Nupur Sharma. In all these cases, the threat was the same, “Gustakh-e-Nabi ki ek saza, sar tan se zuda.”

Meerut: Headless body of a young woman found in Lisari Gate area, identity yet to be known

OpIndia Staff
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Meerut: Headless body of a young woman found in Lisari Gate area, identity yet to be known

In Meerut’s Lisari Gate police station area, a headless body of a young woman has been found in the Lakkhipura area. The case has created sensation and fear among locals.

As per reports, the Kotwali CO Arvind Chaurasia and other personnel arrived at the spot to begin an investigation. The body was first spotted by locals in a drain near Lane number 28 in the Lakkhipura area. Prima facie, the police believe that the actual crime of the murder has been committed elsewhere and the headless body has been abandoned in the drain to conceal identity.

The body seems to belong to a woman in her twenties.

The body has been sent for postmortem examination.

A team of forensic experts have been called to the spot. Police teams have been formed to contact locals and collect details of any missing women in the area. Wireless messages have been sent to gather the list of any women reported missing in nearby towns. The identity of the woman is yet to be known.

The area has seen a number of gruesome crimes against women. In 2019, a similarly beheaded and mutilated body of a woman was found. It took a year for the police to finally nab the accused named Saqib who had first eloped with a 19-year-old girl and had later killed her with help from his family members. In June 2020, 6 persons were arrested for the murder of Ekta Jaisalwal from Ludhiana.

Just last month, a headless, highly decomposed body of a woman was found in a similar manner in a drain in Meerut’s cantonment area.

Farmani Naaz takes down ‘Har Har Shambhu’ after its original writer Jitu Sharma takes legal action: All you need to know about the controversy

OpIndia Staff
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Farmani Naaz takes down ‘Har Har Shambhu’ after its original writer Jitu Sharma takes legal action: All you need to know about the controversy

‘Har Har Shambhu’, the popular song sung by Farmani Naaz that sensationalized the internet within no time, has been removed from YouTube due to copyright issues. Jitu Sharma, the original writer of the song has alleged that Naaz stole his song and failed to give him the credits. Naaz had found herself in trouble earlier as well after being abused by Islamists for singing the song. Deoband cleric had slammed her saying that singing this song was haraam in Islam and against Sharia.

According to reports, Jitu had recorded the song in the voice of Abhilipsa Panda, who recently released a tweet saying that an Islamist girl (Naaz) was falsely claiming that the song was originally recorded in her voice and that she is the owner of the composition.

Sharma elaborating on the incident said that Farmani released the song amid the adored ‘Shravan’ month of the Hindu calendar and gained popularity within no time. He said that he had taken a lot of effort to write, compose and record the song. “I don’t have a problem with Farmani singing the song. But she should have given the credit to us”, he said.

Reports mention that Naaz deliberately kept on ignoring the fact that the song never belonged to her. She kept on claiming the originality of the song but lastly had to take down the song due to copyright infringement. Jitu also revealed the story behind the song. He said that he had to sell his vehicle to arrange finances for the recording of the song. “I wrote the song when I was assisting my father at his shop. I showed it to my Guru and then we discussed recording it. We wanted a girl to sing the song so then we started looking for the candidates and we found Abhilipsa. We needed finances so I decided to sell my loader vehicle”.

He added, “.. the vehicle was also purchased on EMI. I had paid Rs 80,000 as a down payment and also paid the instalments for the following four years. I sold the car for Rs 60,000. I was supposed to travel to Jamshedpur for recording and would spend Rs 500 daily. That was too much expensive for me. I would also take Abhilipsa with me”.

Jitu Sharma, the original writer of the song which has now been taken down from YouTube belongs to the state of Odisha and is poor. His father runs a small vegetable shop. Sharma has seen bad financial times since his childhood. He could not even complete his education due to his father’s vulnerable financial position. He did his 12th and then later opened a YouTube channel in the year 2012 where he uploaded his songs and compositions with his Guru Akash.

Reports mention that Jitu is not sad about Farmani Naaz singing his song, but is sad about not giving him the credit for the composition. He has now decided to take legal action against Naaz.

‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ to release in Pakistan? Media group approaches for NOC, Ministry says no Indian film will release in the country: Pak media

OpIndia Staff
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‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ to release in Pakistan? Media group approaches for NOC, Ministry says no Indian film will release in the country: Pak media

Amid the abysmal opening of the Amir Khan starrer Laal Singh Chaddha at the box office, the Bollywood movie may release in Pakistan, according to local media. This is though the country had banned Indian content in 2019 after the tensions between the two countries escalated due to the abrogation of Article 370 from Kashmir.

According to the reports from Pakistan, a media group has approached the information ministry for a NOC on the countrywide screening of Laal Singh Chaddha. The film is being distributed globally by Paramount Pictures and is imported into Pakistan by the Cinepax Media group. The group has approached for the ‘No Objection Certificate’ and the movie will be released in the country after the NOC is approved.

Earlier the importers had plans to release the movie countrywide on August 11. While Saad Baig, the General Manager of Cinepax Media Group stated to the local media channel that the movie will be released after the NOC is approved, the Information Ministry stated that they have not received any request for NOC.

“Our policy is the same. No Indian film or any project produced in India will be released in the country”, the Ministry stated. Also, the Sindh Censor Board denied having received any such request. Reports mention that the film is first cleared by Information Ministry, then approved by the CBFC, and lastly is presented to the provincial boards for review.

Further, while the Information Ministry and Censor Boards have said that they have received no request for the NOC to release the Bollywood movie Laal Singh Chaddha in Pakistan, reports mention that there is a high probability that the movie might release in the country.

Since 2019, no Bollywood movie has marked its release in Pakistan. The country had banned all types of Indian content as the tensions escalated between the two countries on the grounds of abrogation of Article 370 from the UT of Jammu and Kashmir. The then Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan had said in a tweet, “No Indian movie will be screened in any Pakistani cinema. Drama, films and Indian content of this kind will be completely banned in Pakistan”.

As reported, the movie Laal Singh Chaddha in India has tanked at the box office with its opening day collection being abysmal. The collection on the first day of the Aamir Khan starrer movie is reported to be Rs 10-11 crores. It is reported to be the lowest opening that an Aamir Khan movie has seen in the past 13 years.

According to Bollywood pundits, an Aamir Khan movie should have ideally had an opening of Rs 30 crores. In the worst scenario, it should have not had an opening day collection of less than Rs 20 crores, however, the audience seems to have shunned the movie completely.

Movie ‘Raksha Bandhan’ tanks miserably on opening day, calls for boycott were made after Hinduphobic remarks of writer Kanika Dhillon had surfaced

OpIndia Staff
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Movie ‘Raksha Bandhan’ tanks miserably on opening day, calls for boycott were made after Hinduphobic remarks of writer Kanika Dhillon had surfaced

Amidst calls for a boycott against the movie for the writer’s Hinduphobic views, the Akshay Kumar starrer ‘Raksha Bandhan’ failed to make a mark at the box office on its opening day with a single-digit collection. The movie hit the theatres on August 11 this year.

As per reports, the film garnered a paltry sum of ₹7.5 crores on the first day of its release. ‘Raksha Bandhan’ has underperformed compared to movies such as ‘Bachchhan Pandey’ and ‘Samrat Prithviraj’, which too tanked at the box office.

The performance of the film has been dismal in key cities of Mumbai, Pune and Kolkata. ‘Raksha Bandhan’ was made on a budget of over 70 crores but had about 12-15% occupancy in theatres across the country.

Interestingly, it failed to beat Aamir Khan starrer ‘Lal Singh Chaddha’, which amassed around ₹10-11 crores on its opening day. This was despite the fact that the official ‘Forrest Gump’ remake had been the lowest opening that a Khan movie witnessed in the past 13 years.

It must be mentioned that ‘Raksha Bandhan’ was shrouded in controversy, prior to its release, after several Hinduphobic tweets of its writer Kanika Dhillon had surfaced on social media.

Social media users had also called for a boycott of the movie. They argued that while Dhillon was making money off Hindus, she had been at the forefront of making derogatory remarks against the same community.

Kanika Dhillon and use of Gaumata, Gaumutra jibes

Under the guise of targeting the BJP and PM Modi, she had repeatedly attacked Hindu beliefs and religious sentiments. “Dying in the parking lot after waiting for a hospital bed…Yeh aache din hai! India super power hai! Aur gau mata ka mutra peene see Covid chala jayega (These are the good days…India is a super power. And drinking cow’s urine will cure Covid-19).”

The ‘gaumutra’ jibe has often been used by Islamists and their apologists, including the Pulwama terrorist Ahmed Dhar. He killed the CRPF soldiers as he wanted to avenge those who ‘drink cow urine.’

In several of her tweets, Kanika Dhillon was seen invoking ‘Gau mata’ to take potshots at the ruling dispensation at the Centre.

“Hmm you think one day the cows of India will also be contesting elections? Since they offer more solutions- benefits and protection than our Ministers! Holy cow! Jai Gaiyaa Mayya ki!” she had tweeted.

While labelling Hindustan as ‘Lynchistan’ over isolated cow vigilante attacks, she claimed that the ‘horrifed’ cows are willing to migrate to the United States and tolerate then US President Donald Trump instead of being in India.

The writer of Raksha Bandhan also derided Hindu sentiments by mocking cows while demanding a law against mob lynchings.

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