Congress party workers on Saturday protested outside a Pune hotel where filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar was to have a press conference on his upcoming movie Indu Sarkar. The press conference was cancelled because of the protesting workers, ANI reported.

Even earlier, members of the party had expressed concern over the movie’s portrayal of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and her son Sanjay Gandhi. The movie deals with the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi between 1975 and 1977. Party leader Jagdish Tytler had also threatened Bhandarkar with legal action because of a character that appeared to be based on him.

Bhandarkar, however, had told Scroll.in that the movie was not intended to be a political one. “If it was a sponsored film, I would have had a big budget and a cast of big stars. I would have released the film before the 2019 elections or even before the recent elections in five states. Why would I release it now,” he had said.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy also did not miss the opportunity to pick on the Congress. On Twitter, he asked if the Congress protest was “tolerance or intolerance”.

The movie is expected to be out on July 28.