COIMBATORE: A special screening of the controversial Sri Lankan film ‘With You, Without You’ for representatives of the film industry in Chennai slated for Tuesday has been called off on the advice of the intelligence wing of the State police.
The PVR Pictures, which was one of the two theatres in Chennai, to have pulled out the movie from its halls on Sunday following alleged threats of disruption from unidentified groups, had planned the special screening. However, on Monday police informed the theatre management that it cannot go ahead with the screening without obtaining an NOC.
Shiladitya Bora, a spokesperson for PVR pictures told Express on Monday that the PVR’s Chennai office received a communication from the State police intelligence wing that an NOC is needed before any screening. He added that he received a call later from an intelligence officer who enquired about the screening and urged them not to screen it without NOC.
“To avoid complicating the issue further, we have decided to indefinitely postpone the screening. I don’t think it will ever happen,” he said.
is it a gimmick to draw publicity?
It remains a mystery as to who made the call to PVR Cinemas to ask them to pull the film With You, Without You, off the two screens. Though the theatre management claimed that it was some Tamil group, a leader of a Tamil group expressed the suspicion that it could the handiwork of the multiplex to generate some hype and media interest about the otherwise obscure film