Behen Hogi Teri director, producer arrested for ‘hurting’ religious sentiments, granted bail

In a shocking development, Tony D’Souza (earlier known as Anthony D'Souza) and Ajay K Pannalal, producer and director respectively of Behen Hogi Teri, were arrested on Thursday for allegedly hurting religious sentiments in their film. A poster of the film, which was released early last month, showing the lead actor Rajkummar Rao dressed as Lord Shiva on a bike has gotten the makers in trouble. 

D’Souza and Pannalal were released on bail late yesterday evening. Nitin Upadhyaya, one of the producers of the film told a daily, “We are under stress, but it's part of the job. The director, Ajay K Pannalal, and my co-producer Tony D'Souza, are in Jalandhar. They had a court hearing for their bail at 4.30pm and have been granted bail. One of Jalandhar's leading lawyers, Darshan Singh Dyal, has agreed to fight our case. Let's see what happens next.” 

The problems arose when a Jalandhar based pro-Hindu group filed a criminal complaint against the makers for allegedly hurting religious sentiments. Police Commissioner of Jalandhar told the same daily, “A case has been registered on the basis of a complaint filed by a local Hindu group, complaining how the deity's commercialisation in the film has hurt their religious sentiments.” 

There have been questions raised as to why the issue was raised almost a month and a half after the poster was released. But ACP Kailash Chander, who is handling the case, has said that they have been following the matter since last month. “We began investigating the matter after we received the complaint in April. Apart from connecting with the party in question over telephone, we also served them notices to join the investigation. The procedure went on for more than a month. However, the producer-director seldom responded to our queries and would switch off their mobiles. Then, we moved court and had arrest warrants issued against them,” he said. 

Behen Hogi Teri, starring Rao and Shruti Haasan, is slated to release on 9 June. It is to be seen if the film manages to release as per schedule.