Producers who cast Pak artistes will have to give Rs 5 cr to Army: Raj Thackeray

Mumbai, October 22

Putting an end to the turbulence surrounding the release of Karan Johar’s next movie ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Saturday reached a truce and said the producers casting Pakistani actors in their movies would have to pay Rs 5 crore for the Army Welfare Association, giving a green signal to the flick.

“All producers who have Pakistani artistes in their film will as penance have to pay some money, I suggested Rs 5 crore per film. They will work out the figure now and give the money to the Army Welfare Association,” Thackeray said after meeting Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and film director Karan Johar.

“In the meeting on Saturday I told Bhatt and others why roll out the red carpet for them, when they (in Pakistan) ban films and artistes when they want to,” he said.

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Earlier on Saturday, Raj Thackeray, Devendra Fadnavis, Karan Johar and other film fraternity met at the Chief Minister’s residence over the release of the upcoming flick ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’.

After the meeting, Film and Television Producers Guild of India president Mukesh Bhatt said the body would pass a resolution stating that they would not work with Pakistani actors in future.

“I assured the Chief Minister that the Producers Guild has decided that we will not work with Pakistani artistes in future; it is a resolution and we will pass this resolution,” Bhatt said after the meeting.

Bhatt said that keeping the sentiments of the nation first, director Karan Johar had also said that he would run a slate before the movie started to honour the martyrs.

Karan Johar and Dharma Productions’ upcoming movie has been surrounded with controversies which has received threat from the MNS over featuring Pakistani actor Fawad Khan.

On October 20, the Film and Television Producers Guild of India members met Rajnath Singh, concerning the release of the movie after which filmmaker Mukesh Bhatt said the government had assured them to provide security to the exhibitor featuring the movie and would try to maintain law and order.

The movie is scheduled to be released on October 28.

After situation between India and Pakistan worsened, many political parties and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) have been demanding a ban on KJo’s film that also stars Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma.

In an emotional video statement, Johar earlier on Tuesday expressed a “deep sense of hurt and pain” by the charge of being anti-national. “I condemn terror in the strongest terms. I respect our Army; for me, the country comes first,” the 44-year-old said.

“The reason why I remained silent is because of a deep sense of pain,” he added.

Johar, who made his directorial debut with the blockbuster romance ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’, said, “The best way to express your patriotism is to spread love and that’s all I have ever tried to do through my work and cinema.” ANI