The first trailer for Thackeray, a biopic on controversial politician Bal Thackeray, was released on Wednesday in the presence of his son and present Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray. The film stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui as the late Shiv Sena supremo, and Amrita Rao as his wife, Meena Tai Thackeray.
The trailer begins with scenes of a riot, and a voiceover. “Only one man can pacify Bombay at this time,” the voice booms, and we see shots of Nawaz as Thackeray, taking to the podium to deliver one of his famous speeches. We then see glimpses of a young Thackeray laying the seeds for what would later become the Shiv Sena, a party founded on principles of pride and division.
Controversially, the trailer also shows glimpses of the Babri Masjid demolition, and its subsequent fallout. Thackeray has been directed by Abhijit Panse and written by Shiv Sena politician Sanjay Raut. The film will be distributed by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, who promoted the trailer release with a special video in which several prominent and common Marathis spoke about the power that Thackeray wielded during his tenure as the CM of Maharashtra.
It was reported on Wednesday that film had run into trouble with the Central Board of Film Certification, who have objected to four lines of dialogue and two scenes. “Yes, they have raised objections on some dialogues and scenes, four dialogues and two scenes to be precise. We are legally dealing the matter with CBFC and we hope the matter will be sorted out soon,” Raut told. Nawaz had a strong 2018 professionally.
He delivered acclaimed performances in Nandita Das’ Manto, in which he played the celebrated Urdu writer Saadat Hasan Manto, and in Netflix’s first Indian original series, Sacred Games, in which he played the Marathi gangster Ganesh Gaitonde, whose story, interestingly, runs in parallel to the turbulent years of Thackeray’s Mumbai. He wrote on Twitter that Thackeray was the most difficult role he has ever played. Thackeray has been scheduled for a January 25 release.
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