Film on anti-migrant violence banned

A Western Indian state has banned a movie on hardships faced by migrants in Mumbai for fears it could stoke fresh attacks on immigrants in a city often racked by violent regional rivalry.

The film, Deshdrohi (Traitor), revolves around the often violent confrontation between immigrants and Mumbai locals, who resent being overrun by job-seekers from poor northern and eastern states for whom the city holds hope of a better life.

“Some of the scenes in the film are such that they can provoke a law-and-order situation, so the police recommended 60-day ban,” said a police spokesman in Mumbai, capital of Maharashtra state and India’s financial capital. “The state has agreed with our view.”

The low-budget film is a departure from the typical Bollywood fare of racy thrillers and lavish musicals.

The Mumbai police watched a special screening after promotional ads sparked concerns that it might incite a fresh wave of violence in the city, which last month saw some of the worst anti-immigrant attacks.

Job-seekers from the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, among the poorest in the country, were attacked by supporters of the right-wing Maharashtra Navnirman Sena party, whose leader was then arrested.

Protests against the arrest flared through the state and sparked tit-for-tat attacks and protests in eastern Bihar state, where about 100 people were injured and a boy was killed.

Local Marathis make up less than half of Mumbai’s population of more than 17 million people, and rising anti-immigrant rhetoric is seen as a sign of the strain of lopsided economic development.

The producer and lead actor of Deshdrohi, Kamaal Khan, who has been criticised for seeking to cash in on the controversy, earlier complied with a directive from India’s censorship board to remove the word “Marathi” from some parts of the film’s dialogue.