Producers who cast Pak artists will give Rs five crore to Army as 'penance': Raj Thackeray

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], Oct. 22 (ANI): Putting an end to the turbulence surrounding the release of Karan Johar's next movie 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil', Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Saturday reached a truce and said the producers casting Pakistani actors in their movie will have to pay Rs. 5 crore for the Army Welfare Association, giving a green signal to the flick. "All the producers who have Pakistani artistes in their film will as penance have to pay some money, I suggested five crore per film. They will work out the figure now and give the money to the Army Welfare Association," Thackeray said after meeting with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and director of the movie Karan Johar. "In the meeting today I told Bhatt and others why roll out the red carpet for them, when they (in Pakistan) ban films and artists when they want to," he said. Early today, Raj Thackeray, Devendra Fadnavis, Karan Johar and other film fraternity met at Chief Minister's residence over the release of upcoming flick 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil'. After the meeting, the Film and Television Producers Guild of India president Mukesh Bhatt, said that the body will pass a resolution stating that they will not work with Pakistani actors in future. "I assured the Chief Minister that the Producer's Guild has decided that we will not work with Pakistani artists in the future, it is a resolution and we will pass this resolution," said Mukesh Bhatt after the meeting. Bhatt also said that keeping the sentiments of the nation first, director Karan Johar has also said that he will run a slate before the movie starts to honours the martyrs. Karan Johar and Dharma productions upcoming movie 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil' has been surrounded with controversies which has received threat from the MNS over featuring Pakistani actor Fawad Khan. On October 20, the Film and Television Producers Guild of India member met Rajnath Singh, concerning the release of the movie after which filmmaker Mukesh Bhatt said that the government has assured them to provide security to the exhibitor featuring the movie and will try to maintain law and order. The movie is scheduled to be released on October 28. After situation between India and Pakistan worsened, many political parties and that Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) have been demanding a ban on KJo's film that also stars Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma. In an emotional video statement, Johar earlier on Tuesday expressed a "deep sense of hurt and pain" by the charge of being anti-national. "I condemn terror in the strongest terms, I respect our Army, for me, the country comes first," the 44-year-old said. "The reason why I remained silent is because of a deep sense of pain," he added. Johar, who made his directorial debut with the blockbuster romance Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, further said: "The best way to express your patriotism is to spread love and thats all I have ever tried to do through my work and cinema." (ANI)