Article 15: Members of Brahmin outfits protest against Ayushmann Khurrana's film outside theatres in Kanpur

Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha's Article 15 which was released on 27 June is facing flak from Brahmin outfits in different parts of the country. Members of various Brahmin organisations on Friday staged protests outside cinema halls here against the screening of Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer film which deals with caste discrimination.

The film is reportedly loosely based on the 2014 Badaun rape case, where two girls were allegedly gangraped and hanged to death from a tree. A commentary on the country's caste system, the film has drawn ire from the Brahmin community in Uttar Pradesh.

Ayushmann Khurrana in a still from Article 15

"The protest led to the screening of the film getting cancelled in all cinema halls including Z-square mall. As soon as the screening started, situation outside the cinema halls and the mall became tensed," Superintendent of Police (East) Raj Kumar Agarwal said.

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Members of various Brahmin organisations like Akhil Bhartiya Brahmin Ekta Parishad, Sarva Brahmin Mahasabha, Parshuram Sarva Kalyan and Brahmin Mahasabha raised slogans against the actors and the producer of the film and tore-off film-posters, the SP added.

He also mentioned that heavy police force was deployed in and around the mall and other cinema halls on the state.

A day before the release of the film, Anubhav had issused an open letter, reassuring the Hindu outfits that his film does not ‘disrespect’ the Brahmin community. Written entirely in Hindi,  he said that a film’s intention is never to disrespect a society and  one should not judge a film from its trailer as the trailer is made by stitching together various pieces of the film.  In the second half of his letter, Sinha talked about accusations levelled against his film that it disrespects the Brahmin community. Anubhav further said that he put out a special screening for journalists and critics on Monday in Delhi and Mumbai and called on them to reassure the outfits that the film does not disrespect the Brahmin community.

Isha Talwar, Sayani Gupta, Kumud Mishra, M Nassar, Ashish Verma, Sushil Pandey, Shubrajyoti Bharat, Ronjini Chakraborty and Zeeshan Ayyub are also part of Article 15.

(With inputs from Press Trust of India)