Soon after censor nod, pause button on Oberoi's Modi film

New Delhi: The Election Commission on Wednesday stopped the release of Vivek Oberoi movie 'PM Narendra Modi' till the 2019 Lok Sabha elections are over. The biopic was set for release on Thursday, the very day the first round of the multi-phase polls begins.

The poll body said, “Any biopic that subserves purpose of any political entity or individual should not be displayed in electronic media.”

The EC order came a day before the movie was to be released. The first phase of Lok Sabha elections starts Thursday.

The Supreme Court Tuesday dismissed a petition filed by a Congress activist seeking stay on the release of the biopic and said the Election Commission would be an "appropriate" place to seek the redressal.

The apex court said it was not entertaining the petition for the stay on the release of the film as it was "premature" since the movie is yet to be certified by the Censor Board.

It said even if the film is released on April 11, as claimed by the Congress activist, it will be appropriate for him to seek a redressal from the Election Commission.

The plea had sought deferment of the biopic's release till the completion of the coming Lok Sabha polls, alleging that it was designed to "manipulate, influence and impress viewers and voters".

Meanwhile, Vivek Oberoi slammed the Hindi film industry for helping him out in the whole matter of controversies surrounding the release of his film. Talking about it, he was quoted by a national website as, "It's easy to post selfies with Prime Minister and stuff like that. As an industry, we need to stand together. Around 600 artistes right now are saying that BJP shouldn't come back; let's all get together. I respect that, they have all rights to do that."

In January 2019, many Bollywood actors including filmmaker Karan Johar flew to Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and posed for pics with him.

The film 'PM Narendra Modi 'had received a 'U' certificate from the Censor Board and was slated to hit the screens on April 11, six days after its initial release date, April 5. Now, it seems the film may not see the light of day anytime soon.

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Powerful and timely conversations can bring about change and this was one of what we hope will become a regular conversation. Meeting the Honorable Prime Minister @narendramodi today was an incredible opportunity. As a community, there is a huge interest to contribute to nation building. There is so much that we want to do. And can do and this dialogue was towards how and what ways we can do that. When the youngest country (in demography) joins hands with the largest movie industry in the world, we hope to be a force to reckon with. Together we would love to inspire and ignite positive changes to a transformative India. The film industry would also like to send a huge thanks for the GST reduction in movie ticket prices that was implemented recently! Thank you so much for your time, Sir!

A post shared by Karan Johar (@karanjohar) on Jan 10, 2019 at 4:24am PST

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