Brahmastra actors stopped from entering Ujjain temple over Ranbir Kapoor’s old ’beef guy’ comment

With the upcoming Brahmastra release, Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor were in Ujjain on Tuesday to visit Mahakaleshwar Temple. Both the actor couple were prevented from entering the temple on Tuesday night by Bajrang Dal activists.

The protest came after an old interview of Ranbir Kapoor came into light where he said that he is a beef lover. In 2011, while promoting his film Rockstar, he had said, “My family is from Peshawar, so a lot of Peshawari food has come with them. I am a mutton, paya, and beef fan. Yeah, I am a big beef fan."

Bajrang Dal workers raised 'Jai Shriram' slogans when Ranbir and Alia arrived at the spot to take darshan. “We will not allow them to worship at the holy Mahakaleshwar temple as a few days back Ranbir had said that he likes to eat mutton, chicken and beef in non-veg food,” Bajrang Dal leader told reporters. Even Alia had said that those who want to see her film 'Brahmastra' should watch while others who are not keen shouldn't, he claimed.

Confirming the incident, a Mahakal police station official said they resorted to cane-charge to disperse the protesters. Eyewitnesses said despite the cane charge, the protesters did not allow Ranbir and Alia to enter the temple premises. The police official said they have taken action under section 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of the Indian Penal Code against a right-wing activist.

Talking about the incident, Police Officer OP Mishra said, "Due to a VIP movement at the temple, we were taking security calls and the protesters were asked to stay behind the barricading, a member from Bajrang Dal came and started breaching the security due to which we had to take the following security calls ."

Amid the protest, only the director Ayan Mukherjee took darshan of the deity, temple priest Ashish Pujari said. 

Before leaving for Ujjain, Alia took to her Instagram handle and shared a short clip saying, "Hello, we are back once again with some more information. Firstly, we are on our way to Mahakaleshwar Temple in Ujjain." Ayan then chimed in to say, "Which I am very excited about on the eve of our release. I am very happy we found the time to go."

Alia further added, "Ayan had gone for the motion poster launch, and Ranbir and I are going now before the film launch. So we are very excited. Lots of good energy we can get hopefully, fingers crossed..." Ranbir signed off by saying, "See you at the movies, dhanyawad (thank you)."

Apart from the protest, Twitter too is trending with #BoycottBrahmastra asking the people not to watch the film. Along with the beef lover statement, Ranbir Kapoor's guest appearance in Aamir Khan's 'PK' as an alien, in which Aamir placed stickers of Hindu Gods on Ranbir's cheeks for self-defence is being criticised. Alia, in an interview, had said that "if you don't like me, don't watch me", which has triggered anger amongst netizens. The clip has gone viral on social media, with many Twitter users saying that they will boycott her upcoming film 'Brahmastra'.

Along with this, Amitabh's monologue "Aaj Khush to Bohot Hoge Tum" from yesteryear hit film 'Deewar', where he was seen talking to Lord Shiva's idol is currently getting trolled by the netizens for disrespecting Hindu Gods.

The much-awaited film of the year 'Brahmastra Part -1: Shiva' is all set to hit the theatres on September 9, 2022. Helmed by Ayan Mukerji, the film stars Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Amitabh Bachchan, Mouni Roy and south actor Nagarjuna in the lead roles. It is set to hit the theatres in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada.

(With inputs from agencies)