Sikhs Provoked by Ash film
By: Viral Bhayani
May 30, 2005
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DEFENSIVE: Director Jagmohan Mundhra
Director Jag Mundhra has incurred the wrath of Sikhs in the UK after claims that his crew behaved inappropriately in a gurudwara during a shooting schedule in London.
Mundhra’s film, Provoked, starring Aishwarya Rai, is based on the true story of a Punjabi girl named Kiranjit Ahluwalia, who was tricked into marrying a London-based man only to be physically abused.
Along with Rai, Provoked also stars Nandita Das, Miranda Richardson, Naveen Andrews and Jimmy Mistry. Mundhra and his production team started shooting last week at Ramgharia gurudwara in London.
Aishwarya Rai was present during shooting at the Ramgharia gurudwara in London when the alleged incident occurred.
Worshippers claimed that some members of the crew walked around the holy place with their shoes on and heads uncovered, leading to complaints being made to local Sikh councillors.
But Mundhra has denied the claim and blamed worshippers instead for being disrespectful and clamouring for autographs from Rai and Naveen Andrews. He also claimed that some of them willingly queued up to act as extras.
Aishwarya, who plays Kiranjit Ahluwalia — the woman who burned her husband to death in the UK after 10 years of violent abuse — was also present in the gurudwara at the time.
The cast
1. Aishwarya Rai was approached when she was shooting in London for Mistress of Spices. This is the first time that Aishwarya will play a real-life character.
2. Naveen Andrews will play the husband.
(Rai and Andrews both starred in Bride and Prejudice.)
3. Nandita Das will play an activist working for the Southall Black Sisters.
4. British actor Robbie Coltrane will play Rai’s barrister.
5. Miranda Richardson will play a prison inmate.
Who is Kiranjit Ahluwalia?
Kiranjit Ahluwalia
Kiranjit Ahluwalia left India to marry her husband in London.
After facing domestic abuse for years, she eventually retaliated by dousing him in petrol and setting him alight.
Kiranjit was convicted of murder in 1989 and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Her cause was taken up by a group called the Southall Black Sisters; the sentence was quashed in 1992, when the court accepted her plea of manslaughter on grounds of provocation.
The case made British legal history by changing the way such cases were interpreted by law.
Kiranjit received an award from Cherie Blair for her courage and co-wrote an autobiography, Circle of Light, with Rahila Gupta, on which a film by the same name is based.
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