The movie centres around the Ramjanmbhoomi agitation and demolition of the Babri mosque.Sunil Singh, Amar Singh at the launch of the trailer of Game of Ayodhya. Credit: YouTubeNew Delhi: Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and Hindu Jagran Manch (HJM) activists allegedly blackened the wall of the residence of Sunil Singh, director of the controversial movie Games of Ayodhya in Aligarh on Sunday.The right-wing activists also locked the director’s house to protest the movie’s release.The movie has the Ramjanmbhoomi agitation and the demolition of the Babri mosque as its background. According to the protestors, the movie wrongly depicts that Lord Ram’s statue was installed in a ‘deceitful’ manner in Ayodhya.The police has decided to increase the security and stationed para-military forces in front of the director’s house.Earlier, Amit Goswami, an ABVP leader from Aligarh, had announced a bounty of Rs 1 lakh for anyone who chops off Singh’s hands.The film, which is expected to be released on December 8, was initially not given a green signal by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) on the pretext that it could stoke communal passions. The film uses real speeches by politicians who were part of the Ramjanmbhoomi agitation.The activists have threatened to set theatres on fire if the film is released.Talking to the Times of India, Singh said, “The people who did this are self-proclaimed arbiters of religion. Police should have prevented them from committing these acts. If the Censor Board has approved the movie, who are they to stop its release? They are threatening to kill me and set fire to my house, and police has been keeping mum.”Singh claims that the movie is based on facts and is not distorted. He is due to visit Aligarh on December 4 or 5 and screen the movie for the professors of Aligarh Muslim University first.“The purpose behind screening the movie at AMU is to clarify to the other community that there is nothing against them in the movie,” Singh told the Times of India.However, protesters maintain they will not allow the screening. “If the administration allows the release of the film, then it should also be responsible for anything that happens in the city. The film shows that the idols of Ram Lala were kept in the mosque by cheating. I will kill Sunil Singh if the movie is released and if I get to see him anywhere,” Goswami had told the media on Thursday.Yogesh Varshney, city president of HJM in Aligarh, told the media, “Today we have blackened the wall of Singh’s house. If he doesn’t back down, we will kill him.”
