The Shiv Sena, the main Opposition party in Maharashtra, has filed a third party petition in the Bombay High Court that multiplexes and other cinema houses across the state should screen at least 500 Marathi films annually. The petition will come up for hearing on August 24.
“The party has taken a legal course of action because a year ago, the Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of India had filed a petition in the high court against the state government’s directive of mandatory screening of 112 Marathi films. The Shiv Sena has taken that forward and has petitioned that 500 shows may be made binding on multiplexes and other cinema houses annually,” a party leader told Business Standard.
Earlier, the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena had vandalised a couple of multiplexes in and around Mumbai, protesting that they do not screen Marathi films, which is mandatory.
The Shiv Sena also argues that currently about 90 million Marathi-speaking people live in the state. The population of Maharashtrians in Mumbai and suburban districts is 4.7 million. But out of 1,600 theatres, only 500 theatres are available to screen Marathi films.