Movie theatres across Punjab on Friday cancelled screenings of the Hindi-language film Emergency after protests by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and other Sikh organisations calling for its ban, PTI reported.

Emergency, starring actor-turned-politician Kangana Ranaut, was released on Friday.

“This is complete harassment of art and the artist, from Punjab many cities are reporting that these people are not allowing Emergency to be screened,” Ranaut posted on X. “I have utmost respect for all religions and after studying and growing up in Chandigarh I have closely observed and followed Sikh religion. This is a complete lie and propaganda to tarnish my image and harm my film.”

The film is based on the Emergency imposed by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s government in 1975. Ranaut, a Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi, is also the writer and director of the film, besides having co-produced it through her company Manikarnika Films.

The film was initially scheduled for release on September 6. This was delayed after protests from several quarters, including Sikh groups. Petitions were also filed in court claiming that the film contained objectionable portrayal of Sikhs infringed on the community’s fundamental rights.

On Friday, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, which manages gurdwaras in India and other countries, protested outside cinemas, multiplexes and malls in Punjab. Theatres in Ludhiana, Amritsar, Patiala, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Bathinda did not screen the film, PTI reported.

Police personnel were deployed outside cinemas and malls to maintain law and order.

Kulwant Singh Manan, chief secretary of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, said that theatres had decided not to screen the film in view of its objections, The Indian Express reported. “We welcome the decision,” Manan added.

“Ranaut is an MP from the BJP, and the responsibility of an MP is significant,” PTI quoted Manan as saying. “He or she should work to bring everyone in society together, but instead, she is creating divisions…”

Another member of the organisation, Partap Singh, said that they had gathered to stop the release of the film because it was made to disturb peace in Punjab.

“We spoke with the central government and the Punjab government to stop the release of the movie but no action was taken,” PTI quoted him as saying.

A day earlier, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief Harjinder Singh Dhami wrote to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann seeking a ban on the film, The Indian Express reported.

However, an unidentified government official told the newspaper that the Aam Aadmi Party government in the state did not as a policy ban films.

“The CM [chief minister] hasn’t issued any orders,” the official said. “There is no ban as of now…cinema owners have themselves not screened the movie.”

The Opposition Congress also sought a ban on the film. Party leader Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said that the Aam Aadmi Party government should consider imposing a complete ban “given the already fragile law and order situation in the state”.

In a post on X, Randhawa added that the film “depicts Sikhs in bad light and brings defamation to our state of Punjab”.

Also read: ‘Emergency’ review – A parodic Indira Gandhi biopic