New Delhi: Madhya Pradesh home minister Narottam Mishra has said that state government will “take action” against an actor and a composer if they do not remove the video performance of a song from social media within three days.
Indian Express has reported Mishra as having threatened actor Sunny Leone and composer Saqib Toshi with an FIR if the former does not apologise.
Mishra’s threat has come in reaction to a performance of the song ‘Madhuban Mein Radhika Naache,’ sung originally by Mohammed Rafi for the 1960 film Kohinoor.
The new rendition, ‘Madhuban’, was released by Saregama Music on December 24 and is sung by Kanika Kapoor and Arindam Chakraborty.
“Some people who continuously hurt Hindu sentiments. There are temples for Radha in India, we pray for her. Saqib Toshi can make songs concerning his religion, but such songs offend us. I will take legal advice and action will be taken against them (Toshi and Leone) if the video is not taken down in three days,” Mishra said, according to the report.
Also read: ‘Submit Script, Seek Permission’: MP Home Minister Tells Filmmakers After Bajrang Dal Ruckus
Mishra has grown in prominence as a vocal presence in the content policing department. A day after Bajrang Dal members ransacked the set of filmmaker Prakash Jha’s web series ‘Ashram’ in Bhopal, Mishra had said that the state government will formulate “permanent guidelines” for shoots and filmmakers will now need to show the script of the story to the administration before seeking permission, “if they are going to shoot objectionable scenes which hurt the sentiments of any religion.”
Earlier, one Sant Naval Giri Maharaj of Vrindaban had threatened to go to court if the government did not ban the ‘Madhuban’ video.
“Unless she withdraws the scene and tenders a public apology, she should not be allowed to remain in India,” he was quoted by the news agency PTI as having said.
Akhil Bhartiya Tirth Purohit Mahasabha’s national president Mahesh Pathak has said that Sunny Leone has “maligned the prestige of Brijbhumi by presenting the song in a derogatory manner.”