Mumbai Police to give protection 'as and when required' for releasing Ae Dil Hai Mushkil

Mumbai Police have assured that they would protect single screens and multiplexes "as and when required" in light of Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's threats of vandalism if they screen Karan Johar's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil as it features Pakistani actor Fawad Khan.

"Mumbai Police will provide adequate protection to cinema theatres as and when required," Deputy Commissioner of Police Ashok Dudhe said.

On Tuesday, president of the Film and Television Producers Guild of India, Mukesh Bhatt, and a team from Karan Johar's Dharma Productions met Mumbai Police Commissioner Dattatray Padsalgikar and Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Deven Bharti to seek protection for the screens that will be releasing the movie.

"We are not here to complain. We are here to say that we are all one and let us not get fragmented," Bhatt said.

"MNS is my brother, his way of thinking may differ from mine, but that's okay. That happens in every house. So I would only appeal to my brothers in MNS to be with us, let us have peace together, let us not make the terrorists feel that he has won the battle by making us fragmented," he added.

The MNS had opposed the release of the movie in single screen theatres and multiplexes.

"We will oppose the screening of the movie everywhere in the state. If any multiplex operator dares to screen the film, they (operators) should remember that multiplexes are decorated with expensive glass sheets," MNS leader Amey Khopkar had said on Monday.

"We will also oppose Shah Rukh Khan's Raees though it is slated to release in January," he added.

Earlier, the Cinema Owners Exhibitors Association of India (COEAI) had decided against releasing the movie in single screens across Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Gujarat.

The opposition against the movie comes in the wake of the Uri attack last month in which 19 Indian Army soldiers were martyred.