`Gali Gali...` screening in Anna village raises piracy fears

Though Anna Hazare watched ‘Gali Gali Mein Chor Hai’ with much enthusiasm along with other people in his Ralegan Siddhi village Tuesday evening, it`s said some villagers in the audience might have recorded footage of the film, raising fears of piracy.

The social crusader had a ball watching Akshaye Khanna rough up corrupt politicians and bureaucrats in the film which still has three weeks to go for its release.

Apparently, some of the 3,000 members in the audience were spotted recording the footage during the two-and-a-half uninterrupted screening under a massive tent especially erected in the village.

But director Rumi Jaffery is not worried. "Let them pirate the film, if that`s the price for what we achieved on Tuesday evening. Simply seeing Aana Saab sit next to me to watch the film without an intermission, enjoying my film so much, clapping his hands and chuckling at the satire and seeing his face break into a childlike grin was enough compensation for the damage that might be caused to the film`s commercial prospects."

"There`s no film theatre in Anna Saab`s village. Our entire team of Akshaye Khanna, Shriya Saran, Mugdha Godse, producer Nitin Manmohan and I drove down from Pune to Anna Saab`s village with full equipment and a CD of the film for screening," he said.

"Yes, piracy of my film is now a very real danger. There were nearly 3,000 people watching the film in that tent with Anna Saab. Anyone could have copied the film on a camera. But we`re ready to tackle the risks. At least we did something that no filmmaker has done in our country. We actually showed our anti-corruption film to the crusader against corruption."

Apparently, Hazare had not seen any film for the last 40 years. He was clueless about the identity of the actors.

Says Rumi, "He didn`t know any of us. He just knew we had made a film against corruption. We went to great lengths to get him to agree to see our film. Our team was in Anna Saab`s village for nearly a week making arrangements for the screening. But the effort was worth it."

Anna Hazare: When tolerance runs out, slapping only option

In remarks that could stoke a fresh controversy, Gandhian Anna Hazare Tuesday night said a person is left with no option other than going for a slap when his power of tolerance of corruption runs out.

"When a man's power of tolerance runs out, then whoever is in front of you, if a slap is given, then the brain is put back in place. That is the only road open now", Hazare told reporters after watching the Hindi film 'Gali Gali Chor Hai' based on the common man's fight against corruption.

A special screening of the movie was held for the anti-graft crusader at his native village Ralegan Siddhi tonight in the presence of the film's crew.

On November 24 last year, Hazare had sparked a row by appearing to approve of the slapping of  fight against corruption.by a youth in Delhi. He had, however, later condemned the attack on Pawar.

Anna saw the entire film whose screening ended at around 10 pm and expressed satisfaction over it, Hazare's aide Datta Awari told a news agency.

Actors Akshaye Khanna, Shriya Saran and Mugdha Godse, all part of the film, director Rumi Jafferey, and producers Nitin Manmohan and Sanjay Punamija, were among those who attended the screening held near the Shantiniketan ground, Awari said.