Party’s general secretary denies anything wrong in arm-twisting Bollywood to cough up Rs 5 crore to Army Welfare Fund to clear the way for release of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil
Shalini Thackeray
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The MNS’ blockbuster moment has backfired but general secretary Shalini Thackeray continues to laugh off reports that the party was merely resorting to “extortion” when it demanded Bollywood producers to cough up Rs 5 crore to the Army Welfare Fund.
In exchange, the MNS agreed it would not block the release of ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ (ADHM).
“This is not extortion,” said the secretary, “These were the conditions that we put forth at a recent meeting with the Producers’ Guild, which included Karan Johar, Mukesh Bhatt, Sajid Nadiadwala and others.”
The storm over ADHM started because the MNS was insisting that producer Karan Johar delete Pakistani actor Fawad Khan from the film, even though there were just days left before its Diwali release. It was only recently, after CM Devendra Fadnavis intervened, that the matter was resolved.
Shalini said, “We all came together at a meeting as the CM wanted a solution. There were three conditions put forth by Raj saab (Raj Thackeray) at the meeting, which of course had the CM present throughout.”
'Call it a penalty'
She added, “Raj saab said that we will talk about three movies only — ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’, ‘Raees’ and ‘Dear Zindagi’. All these movies will be shown only after they put a disclaimer right in the beginning with shraddhanjali to the slain soldiers. Then the producers will have to pay Rs 5 crore — you may call it a penalty, call it a fine, call it what you will — to the Army Welfare Fund.”
She further said, “One cannot keep acting as if everything is normal while the army fights and soldiers die on our behalf. We have to look at the overall picture in the country, not act as if the entertainment industry is a different entity altogether.”
Shalini clarified that the money will go to the army welfare fund started by the central government and the CM himself would take this forward. When told that the Army had rejected the money, claiming that it was “extortion”, Shalini responded, “Then why is there a welfare fund? It is not extortion. The CM is the highest authority in the state and he is going to take this forward. This is our proposal. Others who are shouting extortion are simply doing so because they have nothing else to do or say.”
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