Producers refused to account 'Har Pal' following Shiney Ahuja rape case, reveals Jahnu Barua

Panaji: National-award winning filmmaker Jahnu Barua has revealed that his long-stalled film 'Har Pal', starring Preity Zinta and Shiney Ahuja, has been shelved finally. The 62-year-old 'Maine Gandhi Ko Nhi Maara' helmer said that producers were reluctant to release the love story after its lead actor "went through an unfortunate incident". "The film (Har Pal) is shelved now because it has got into some unfortunate situation. The film was almost complete and the lead actor got into some case and the case is not settled yet. Producer is reluctant to release the film... People including me are banking on that film for our future works. What has happened is very unfortunate," Jahnu told PTI on the sidelines of ongoing International Film Festival of India (IFFI).

Shiney, who is currently out on bail, was convicted by a Bombay sessions court after his maid alleged that he raped her in 2009. 'Har Pal' was initially scheduled to hit theatres in the same year but the makers postponed the release by two years after the incident. The ongoing film festival is also paying tribute to the critically-acclaimed Assamese filmmaker by conducting a retrospective of his eight films.

Barua said the Indian film industry has been suffering from 'disease' as people are reluctant to explore various regional cinemas in the country. "Indian cinema culture is suffering from disease. It is only one sided. No one likes to look at films with content oriented mindset. People should look for content. It is almost like choosing a book to buy. So, one should look for good films. That urge is not there anymore.

"Suppose a Malayalam film wins Oscars, I am sure people from other state like Odisha will not like to see it just because it is in Malayalam. So, that is a disease. I mean to say that any cinema lover in the country we need to see the content. If you don't have that urge you can never create that environment. Being a country which produces largest number of films in the world it is very unfortunate," he said.