Upcoming movie titled Toilet – Ek Prem Katha starring Akshay Kumar and Bhumi Pednekar is loosely based on PM Narendra Modi’s swach bharat abhiyan. The shooting of the film is taking place in rural areas of Mathura, Uttar Pradesh.
The movie is already dragged into controversy over its name and storyline. Apparently, this movie violates tradition related to marriage of two villages- Nandgaon and Barsana located in Mathura.
It has been alleged by a senior religious leader that the film has references to Lord Krishna and Radha’s relationship. He has approached the mahapanchayat and offered 1 crore rupees to chop of the tongue of Narain Singh, the director of the film.
Further, as per the tradition, no marriages take place between the men and women of Nandgaon and Barsana villages with respect to the ‘pious love’ between Lord Krishna and Radha. Lord Krishna hailed from Nandgaon and Radha was from Barsana. Some natives stake claim that the story revolves around marriage links between Nandgaon and Barsana villages of Mathura.
“We are shooting scenes in Nandgaon and Barsana but every doubt would be cleared with release of movie as nowhere the name of Nandgaon has been used in it. The movie is on women’s empowerment and ‘Swachhta’ and Barsana is chosen for communicating this message through ‘lath-maar’ Holi since Mughal period,” Singh was quoted saying.
The film is slated to release next year.
