Why a 'pregnant' scene in Laali Ki Shaadi Mein Laddoo Deewana is giving VHP sickness
A heavily pregnant woman, decked up in her wedding finery and all set to get married to a man who has got nothing to do with the baby in her womb, has disturbed the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's peace of mind.
Activists of the outfit, whose main objective is to "organise the Hindu society to serve and protect the Hindu dharma", are angry with the makers of the upcoming comedy, Laali Ki Shaadi Mein Laddoo Deewana, over the "highly objectionable" point in the storyline — when the pregnant woman gets married to "another" man.
According to this report, Manish Harishankar's film found itself in trouble after VHP members dubbed it an attack on their religious sentiments and its members protested outside the producers' office in Mumbai, demanding to delete the particular scene.
The filmmakers, however, have refused to comply, saying they have obtained a U/A certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) which did not delete a single scene from the film.
"We are not going to delete a single scene from our film. We have got a U/A certificate and not even one scene has been chopped from the film," TP Aggarwal, co-producer of the film, was quoted as saying by the Firstpost.
Although the VHP's reaction is not unexpected — the outfit finds itself totally out of issues to outrage over and understandably seeks refuge in either cow or culture — the CBFC and its famed chairperson Phalaj Nihalani has surely surprised everyone by giving a go-ahead to the movie, that too, an U/A certification (may be they forgot to get parental consent from the morality police).
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| The VHP members dubbed the scene an attack on their religious sentiments. |
In the movie slated to be released on April 7, Akshara Haasan plays the pregnant woman who decides to live life on her own terms when her boyfriend (Vivaan Shah) decides to shirk his responsibility as the father of the child.
The star cast of the movie is as interesting and unusual as the title and includes Gurmeet Choudhary, Kavitta Verma, Saurabh Shukla, Sanjay Mishra, Darshan Jariwala, Ravi Kishan, Suhasini Mulay, Navni Parihar, Kishori Shahane, Jyoti Kalsh and Ehsan Khan. It's written and directed by Harishankar, the film revolves around a marriage and quirky characters, who are ironically trapped in tragedies.
Of course, the VHP and their religious sentiments are not aware of the fact that Indian women are capable of getting pregnant before marriage. And an even bigger crime than that is her audacity to get married to another man.
The advocates of Hindu Rashtra and Ram Rajya are not just far removed from the realities of India, but also have an extremely poor knowledge of Bollywood history. This is not the first movie where a pregnant woman refuses to get married to an irresponsible boyfriend — remember Preity Zinta-starrer Kya Kehna?
What is it that has got the VHP's goat?
Is it no longer acceptable in their imagined/proposed Hindu Rashtra for a woman to decide who she wants to get married to? Or who she thinks will prove to be a better father to her child? Or is it actually the troubling thought of a woman asserting her sexual freedom out of wedlock? Of course, a pregnant bride is not just highly unimaginable but an "objectionable" sight to them.
It's sickening how these outfits assume the role of moral police every time and want to stifle women's voice and the choices they want to make. This clearly indicates their aversion to sexual freedom of a woman, no matter in real or reel life.