Last Updated: September 08, 2022, 07:42 IST
Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt face backlash ahead of Brahmastra release.
A day after Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt were shown black flags at Ujjain’s Mahakal temple, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister has reacted to the incident.
Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra on Wednesday said that there was “no restriction” on Brahmastra lead actors, Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt, to take darshan of Mahakal in Ujjain but the Bollywood couple decided against visiting the temple due to a protest.
Brahmastra sparked protests in Ujjain over Ranbir’s past statement on beef-eating that resurfaced on social media recently. Alia and Ranbir had visited the city’s famous temple to offer their prayers but were forced to skip the aarti after protestors allegedly didn’t let them enter the temple.
“The protest is a different matter. There was no restriction on them to offer prayers (at the temple). Other persons accompanying the actor couple had offered prayers and all arrangements were in place,” Mishra, who is the state government’s spokesman, was quoted as saying by the news agency PTI.
He said the local administration told him that Ranbir and Alia were requested to visit the temple “but it was their decision not to go there because of the protest”.
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Ranbir Kapoor-starrer Brahmastra has been facing the calls for boycott on social media for a while now. A section of the internet pointed out that Ranbir worked with Aamir Khan in his movie PK, which allegedly hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus. Some reshared the screenshot of a scene from Brahmastra where Ranbir is entering a Durga Puja pandal in shoes. This scene in question had earlier caused a controversy, however, director Ayan Mukerji issued a clarification, stating that it was not a temple but a pandal and hence Ranbir was wearing shoes. Others are unhappy with Ranbir’s beef statement.
However, despite all the boycott calls and protests, Brahmastra has managed to sell 1.31 lakh in national chains for opening day till September 7 and 2.50 lakh plus tickets for the opening weekend in the three national chains.
