Bollywood actor couple Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor, who are gearing up for the release of Brahmastra, were stopped from entering Ujjain’s famous Mahakaleshwar temple on Tuesday night over the latter’s old statement on beef-eating that resurfaced, and subsequently, went viral on social media recently.
Alia and Ranbir were to join Brahmastra director Ayan Mukerji for the Mahakal aarti but the duo faced massive protests outside the temple by Bajrang Dal activists. A Mahakal police station official confirmed the incident to the news agency PTI, adding that the cops resorted to cane-charge to disperse the protesters.
“We won’t allow them to worship at the holy Mahakaleshwar temple as a few days back Ranbir had said that he likes to eat mutton, chicken and beef in non-veg food,” Bajrang Dal leader Ankit Choube told media reporters stationed outside the temple to cover the celebrity couple.
Ayan also interacted with the media after offering prayers at the temple. He spoke about his experience of witnessing the puja. When asked about the protests outside the temple, Ayan replied, “Sir, there is nothing to say…”
#AyanMukerji speaks to the media about the #Brahmāstra and darshan of the Mahakaleshwar.
But he gracefully avoided the question related to protest and #RanbirKapoor, #AliaBhatt absence. pic.twitter.com/frC1uRN1qV
— Ashwani kumar (@BorntobeAshwani) September 6, 2022
Brahmastra has been facing relentless boycott calls on Twitter for over a month now. However, despite continuous backlash and boycott trends, Brahmastra has already sold over 1 lakh tickets.
Meanwhile, Ayan took to Instagram and shared a picture from his visit to the temple and wrote, “Feel very happy and energised to have visited Mahakaleshwar Temple today… Got the most beautiful darshan… Wanted to make this visit to close the film-making journey on Brahmāstra, and to get all the positive energy and blessings for our Release.”
Brahmastra, also starring Amitabh Bachchan, Mouni Roy, and Nagarjuna, is set to release in theatres on September 9.
