Mere four days after its trailer got released and broke all records by becoming the first-ever trailer for a Bollywood film to reach 21 million views within 24 hours, Shah Rukh Khan’s upcoming film Raees is already embroidered in a controversy. A Shia group has launched a Police complaint in Delhi’s Mayur Vihar against Shah Rukh, the producer and the director of the film objecting to the treatment of a Muharram scene in the film. Citing some scenes as ‘objectionable’ and ‘disrespectful’ to the Islamic community, the group has written to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in regards to the matter and even appealed to the Censor Board for a serious intervention on their part.
In the trailer, Shah Rukh is seen jumping over a Muharram procession, carrying the holiest Shahihe Mubarak of Imama Hussain. And this is considered as a blatant show of disrespect to the entire community. The complainant Jeeshan Haider said that he wants the Raees team to issue a grave apology. He iterated:
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Shah Rukh Khan has insulted the alame mubarak by jumping over the holiest Shahihe Mubarak of Imama Hussain. The actor and the whole team should apologise for it and we want the scene to be removed. Such a scene that hurts the religious sentiments of the Shia community can neither be shown nor considered for entertainment. If the scene is not deleted, we will organise a protest throughout India. We will move court and file a petition in this regard.
Another influential Shia leader from Lucknow, Maulana Syed Kalbe Jawad Naqvi has spoken to the media that “huge protests against the scene in the trailer are being organised”. He added that such kind of treatment wasn’t expected from Mr. Khan and he’s hoping that an “appropriate action” would be taken soon against him.
The team of Raees is yet to react to the issue. In fact, it was just the past night when Shah Rukh Khan met MNS chief Raj Thackeray to discuss Pakistani actress Mahira Khan’s association with the film.
