Columnist and author Shobhaa De today welcomed the Maharashtra government's move to allow multiplexes to increase the time window to screen Marathi films and stated that it should have been done earlier.
"The controversy is now finished... I feel they have taken a step in the right direction. This should have been taken earlier," De told PTI.
She was speaking on the sidelines of a celebration to launch a book authored by noted lawyer and MP Ram Jethmalani at his residence here with Chief Justice H L Dattu as chief guest.
De had invited the wrath of the Shiv Sena over her tweet in which she slammed the state government for its directive asking private multiplexes to screen Marathi films in prime time slots between 6PM to 9 PM.
Faced with criticism from the film industry and others, the government later extended the time window for screening from 12 noon to 9 PM.
De said that when asked, Jethmalani had agreed to defend the scholar Wendy Doniger, whose book on Hinduism was taken off shelves last year after protests and a lawsuit.
"He called me up last evening when I asked him if he was interested in taking on a case to defend Wendy Doniger to which he said he had never heard of the author," De said.
De said the senior lawyer agreed to defend Doniger after De explained that the scholar was in a lot of trouble.
"He just said consider it done...It is a kind of spontaneous decision that he takes..." De said.
The event hosted by Jethmalani and Penguin Random House was attended by several parliamentarians including L K Advani, Sharad Yadav, Naveen Jindal, Amar Singh and Abhishek Manu Singhvi. Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit was also present.
Meanwhile Jethmalani recounted incidents from his life, including his entry into the legal profession at the age of 17 and his love for teaching, all included in "The Rebel: A Biography of Ram Jethmalani" authored by Susan Adelman.
Born in Sindh in Pakistan, the lawyer said his dream was to completely "restore the Kashmiriyat in Kashmir" before he died.
"Sindh is a replica of the Kashmiriyat of Kashmir. I love Kashmir as much as I love Sindh and it is my dream that before I die I would ensure that Kashmiriyat is completely restored in Kashmir."
He talked about the "beautiful synthesis of Islam and Hinduism" in Sindh and recalled his childhood days when he used to get new clothes on Eid while Muslim children would do so on the occasion of Diwali.
"I am very unhappy that the Kashmiriyat which is a replica of Sindh culture is made to dilute itself and sometimes in the same sector it is made to disappear completely," Jethmalani said.
