Home ministry has no objection to Prakash Jha's Chakravyuh

NEW DELHI: India Inc may be unhappy with a song in Prakash Jha's upcoming film, Chakravyuh, with the Birla group even sending Jha a legal notice. But the Union home ministry has decided not to voice any objection to the film whose central theme is said to be the Naxalite movement in the country.

A home ministry source said no special screening will be sought since the movie is quite "balanced". It has learnt that if, on the one hand, it is espousing the Naxal cause, on the other hand, it is portraying reasons for the government to launch security operations and its efforts to bring development to the Naxal-affected areas. "Objecting to such a movie may also prove counter-productive as the movie will then attract more attention," the home ministry source said.

The home ministry has been concentrating on countering the propaganda machinery of the Naxals. "We have problems with romanticisation of the Naxal movement. The film, we have learnt, has extensive references to the Naxal ideology, but also achieves a balance by showing compassion for the difficult conditions in which CRPF and police forces are fighting the Naxals. We learn that police and the government haven't been painted blatantly as monsters," the MHA source said.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) had earlier objected to the movie, Rang De Basanti, in 2006, prompting producers to hold a special screening for the defence ministry. The movie was watched by then defence minister Pranab Mukherjee and cleared subsequently. That film showed the death of an IAF officer in a MIG crash and portrayed a corrupt defence minister. The Censor Board had referred the movie for a special screening to the defence ministry. However, there has been no such request from MHA for Jha's film, which has now been cleared by the Censor Board and will release on October 24.

Prakash Jha's film portrays Manoj Bajpai as a top Naxal leader and Arjun Rampal as a police officer taking on the Naxals. It also portrays Abhay Deol as a person who joins the Naxal cause after watching their plight though he is planted as an informer in the Naxal camp by the police.

Earlier, corporate houses like the Aditya Birla Group and the CII had objected to the lyrics of a song in Chakravyuh, which takes a jibe at business houses like Tata, Birla and the Ambani Group for 'exploiting' the poor.