Dreaming of harmony
Director Abhishek Kapoor defends his film ‘Kedarnath’, a love story between a Hindu girl and a Muslim boy
Seeing a Muslim porter carrying a Hindu pilgrim on his back — the image left a seed in Abhishek Kapoor, which led him to tell a tale of “harmony” with his forthcoming Hindi film Kedarnath.
A firm believer of Hindu deity Shiva, Kapoor has urged those opposing
Kedarnath to have patience and faith in him.
Reacting to the ‘love jihad’ controversy that the film has been caught up in over the romance between the lead characters — a Hindu girl and a Muslim boy — he says the movie is his “pure attempt to create harmony and more understanding”.
A BJP leader had sought a ban on Kedarnath for promoting ‘love jihad’.
Was he prepared to face such concerns while he was shooting the film?
“You do consider stuff like that can happen, but the idea is not to titillate [moviegoers] in a certain sense or the idea is not to create a controversy. This film is genuinely a very pure attempt to create harmony and more understanding among ourselves,” said Kapoor.
However, he feels that if someone is going to find faults and tries to take advantage of the situation, he can’t help it.
“One’s attempt is to do something that has not been done before and you have to have some courage. To answer all those people out there who are sceptical, they should know that there is nothing that they should worry about. We have not made a film that will offend anyone. If at all, they will see each other with more understanding and more love.
“I would request them to have patience, to have faith in me because the way they love Hindu religion and want to protect it, I also want to do the same” Kapoor said.