Last Friday could be called a nightmare for the filmmaker Karan Johar as it had MNS leader Raj Thackeray being instigated to blow up an issue when his latest release ‘Wake Up Sid’ had several characters calling Mumbai by its former name, Bombay. Never had Karan imagined that one small mistake could create such a big political hullaboo arousing various comments from different parties.
MNS chief Raj Thackeray said no film producer had the right to change the name of the city from Mumbai to Bombay. “If any producer dares to rename this city and refer to it as Bombay, then my men will protest in typical MNS-style.”
Karan was, however, in no mood to arouse any kind of controversy or violence. So, he visited Raj Thackeray’s residence during the day and apologized saying, “I apologize if I have hurt anyone’s sentiments and so have agreed to put a one-line disclaimer, stressing this, right at the start of the film,” he said.
However, Shiv Sena does not seem to be in a mood to let go of this event especially when it has found an issue just before the lections. Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut told reporters that Johar should not merely apologize to Raj Thackeray. “If Johar really feels sorry about it, he should apologize to Maharashtra and the millions of Marathi Manoos staying here,” he said.
Johar said he apologized because he didn’t want trouble. “I didn’t want any negative impact on the film as so much of hard work had gone into it. It was also never our intention to hurt anybody’s sentiment. The film, in fact, pays homage to the city and Mumbai is an integral part of the film,” he said.
Congress chief minister Ashok Chavan called the Johar-Thackeray meeting a “publicity stunt”. “Raj Thackeray is not a constitutional authority. Karan Johar should have come to the state government if he thought that the issue was so serious,” he said.
To this, Karan clarified, “We at Dharma follow certain ethics and will never market our films like this. There are various other platforms to market films. Besides, my father always told me that if there was an issue, address it immediately and that was exactly what I did.”
As of now, Karan will insert an apology message before the start of the film.
