Posted On Saturday, August 04, 2012 at 08:58:18 AM
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 The first look of Madhur Bhandarkar’s dream venture Heroine has triggered off a controversy in the United Arab Emirates. Kareena Kapoor’s dialogue, where she accuses the media of holding preconceived notions about actresses and says, “Heroine ne gaadi li toh business man ne gift kiya… aur God forbid Dubai gayi, toh uska rate card ban jaata hai,” has hurt the sentiments of people in the emirate.
The media has accused Bhandarkar of ‘ignorance’ and said that the immoral reference to the city was not required. And now, Mirror has learnt that the makers have collectively decided to take preventive action and change the controversial dialogue in the copy of the film that will be screened there.
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| The scene wherein Bebo mouths the controversial dialogue |
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A leading newspaper in the Gulf, quoted a radio jockey, “Bollywood has onc again tarnished the image of Dubai by typecasting it as the hub of illegal and immoral activities. Let’s not forget that Dubai is home to a number of Bollywood stars.”
The RJ had added, “To use its name in such a callous manner shows the ignorance of the filmmaker and is just not acceptable.” Ironically, the same filmmaker, had premiered Fashion in UAE and was also honoured in Dubai for his contribution to Indian cinema a couple of years back. An insider explained, “Dubai is a big market for Hindi movies. The controversy may affect the business of Heroine.
And thus, the makers have now decided to take preventive measures. It is a big budget production. And a lot of hopes of the producers, the director as well as the actors are pinned on it.” Interestingly, the film censor body of UAE, had passed the trailer of Heroine with the word ‘Dubai’ in it.
However, following the controversy, producers Bhandarkar and UTV Motion Pictures have now jointly decided to do away with the particular word. Though Bhandarkar remained unavailable for comment, a friend of the filmmaker called up to say, “Madhur is very upset and doesn’t want to talk about it.
His previous films have done well in Dubai and he doesn’t want to miss out on the business there, this time. He is in a dilemma over what to do. He will either mute the word ‘Dubai’ or dub it with a suitable alternative in the UAE copy of Heroine. Also, a rectified version of the promo will be aired in the Middle East, starting today.”
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03:37:55 PM