The right-wing outfit Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) has demanded withdrawal of the screening of Marathi film ‘Elizabeth Ekadashi’ from the upcoming International Film Festival of India 2014 (IFFI) in Goa.
It has claimed that the film hurts the ‘national’ sentiments of Indians and the religious sentiments of Hindus.
National spokesperson of HJS, Manoj V Solanki, submitted a memorandum in this regard on Monday to the minister of Information and Broadcasting, IFFI Organisers and Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG).
The memorandum says that ‘Ekadashi’ is the eleventh day of the lunar month of the Hindu calendar which is related to Lord Vishnu. There are twenty-four Ekadashis in a year and each one of them has spiritual significance. The director has created another ‘Ekadashi’ by naming the film ‘Elizabeth Ekadashi’, which is misleading.
The memorandum also objected to a scene in the film where scientist Newton is called as ‘Sant’ (Saint) Newton.
“This will give out wrong information to the viewers who will be children as the movie is projected to be a children’s film. The name Elizabeth brings to mind the image of British Queen Elizabeth and bitter memories of British rule in India, which is again showing lack of national pride and hurting national sentiments of Indians,” said the memorandum of HJS.