Jaat makers remove controversial scene after legal action for ‘hurting religious sentiments’ of Christians

Jaat makers issued a public apology to the Christian community following legal action over a scene in the movie that allegedly “hurt sentiments.” They said they had removed the scene from the film.

A Christian community leader, Viklav Gold, alleged the movie Jaat, which was released on April 10, contains scenes that disrespect Jesus Christ and Christian religious practices. He also questioned the timing of the film's release around Good Friday.

Following Gold's complaint, an FIR was lodged against actors Sunny Deol, Randeep Hooda and three others in Punjab's Jalandhar.

Jaat makers apologise

“We sincerely apologise,” said the Jaat makers in a statement after the backlash over the scene. They also said that the controversial scene had been removed with immediate effect.

“There has been a backlash for a specific scene in the film. The scene has been removed from the film with immediate effect. Our intention was not to hurt any religious sentiments,” the filmmakers said in the statement.

“We deeply regret it and have taken a quick action of deleting the scene from the film. We sincerely apologise to everyone whose beliefs have been hurt,” they added.

FIR against Sunny Deol, others

Sanjeev Kumar, SHO of the Jalandhar Cantonment police station where the FIR was lodged on Wednesday, said actors Sunny Deol, Randeep Hooda and Vineet Kumar, director Gopichand and producer Naveen have been named in the FIR.

“The FIR was registered under section 299 (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the BNS,” the SHO said.

Jaat Box Office Collection

According to industry tracker Sacnilk, Sunny Deol's movie has earned ₹65.81 crore net in India in its nine-day run at the theatres.

Jaat has earned a total of ₹82.75 crore at the worldwide box office, of which ₹10 crore was collected overseas. The movie has minted a gross of ₹72.75 crore in India.

(With agency inputs)