An ad film set was vandalised in Jaipur on 25 April for recreating Pakistan in the city to shoot an advertisement, reports Indian Express.
A Mumbai-based production house was shooting a television commercial for Volkswagen Polo, for which they had put up Urdu signboards in order to situate the set in Pakistan. The signboards read: ‘Welcome to Lahore’, ‘Karachi Chai Wala’ and ‘Lahore Sweets’. Various other sign boards with Urdu words were also removed. The set was put up in Chandni Chowk near City Palace.
40 members of an outfit titled Darohar Bachao Samiti, one that claims that they work on the conservation of local temples, vandalised the set and destroyed the banners.
Narendra Singh, Sub Inspector, Manak Chowk police station, said, “The crew had the requisite permission to shoot in the city. They had put up stickers, banners and posters near Chaar Darwaja and Chandni Chowk area of the four-walled city. When the protesters came to know about it, they asked the crew to stop shooting,” he told Indian media.
The officer said the crew left after the protesters forcefully removed the banners and posters. “They (crew) left after the incident and vowed not to shoot in the city again,” he said.
One member was quoted saying that the set hurt religious sentiments:
“They had permission but that does not mean they will put up banners above Anand Krishna Bihari temple and Brij Nidhi temple. It was not a short film or advertisement film. So, we talked to the crew members and asked them to discontinue the shooting.”
None of the crew makers wanted to elaborate on the incident, and a case has yet to be filed.
Earlier, the sets of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film Padmavati was vandalised in Jaipur by members of Karni Sena who were opposed to an alleged intimate scene between Rani Padmavati and Allauddin Khilji. Although Bhansali has since denied the existence of such a scene in his film, his set was vandalised yet again in Kolhapur by another local outfit.
