The trailer for Abhishek Kapoor’s Kedarnath was released today. Starring Sushant Singh Rajput and Sara Ali Khan, the film traces the love story between a Hindu tourist and a Muslim porter in the titular pilgrimage town against the backdrop of the 2013 Uttarakhand floods that killed more than 5,700 people.
The trailer underlines the natural and man-made difficulties that the protagonists face in their path to being together. “Even if there is a catastrophe, I will never allow the two of you to be together,” says the father (Nitish Bharadwaj) to Khan’s character. “I will pray and chant for a catastrophe,” she replies.
Also starring Alka Amin and Sonali Sachdev, Kedarnath has been produced by RSVP Pictures and Guy in the Sky Productions. The film, which marks the acting debut of Sara Ali Khan, the daughter of Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh, will be released on December 7.
On Saturday, Ajendra Ajay, a Bharatiya Janata Party leader, approached the Central Board of Film Certification seeking a ban on the film. He alleged that the film promotes love jihad – a term used by the Hindu Right to allege a conspiracy by Muslim men to marry women from other religions to convert them to Islam – and hurts Hindu religious sentiment.
“By setting a romantic love story against the backdrop of a huge tragedy that occurred at Kedarnath, a centre of faith for crores of Hindus, the filmmakers have shown great disrespect to the followers of the religion” Ajay told PTI.