'Aarakshan' releases in all but 3 states, Jha moves SC

New Delhi, Aug 12 (PTI) Prakash Jha's controversial film
"Aarakshan" on reservations released in most parts of the
country to a decent response Friday even as the producer-
director failed to get any immediate relief from the Supreme
Court in lifting of the ban imposed in three states.
Jha had moved the apex court which will hear the matter
on Tuesday after a long weekend. He had contended that the
decision to ban the film by the state governments of Uttar
Pradesh, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh was due to political
reasons and it violates the fundamental right to speech and
expression as the Amitabh Bachchan-starrer was passed without
any cuts by the Censor Board.
The Centre too defended the board's decision and ruled
out any intervention in the matter.
The Punjab government agreed to lift the ban on the
film's release on the condition that certain scenes and
dialogues are removed from the movie.
Multiplex chains and theatre owners said audience
response was favourable in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata
and Chennai. The response was, however, not too good in the
north because of the ban in two states, said Rahul Singh, VP
(marketing) of PVR.
Jha, who termed the ban "very intimidating", said he is
confident about a positive decision from the apex court and
hoped his film will release without any cuts.
"We have a simple demand that our film is released in all
the states the way Censor Board passed it," he said.
But in the process, he said, he will lose money in the
three states during the first weekend, considered very crucial
for a film.