On February 15, ETimes broke the story that a group of hoodlums had started bursting crackers during the screening of Rakesh Roshan’s Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan-starrer 1995 blockbuster ‘Karan Arjun’ in a theatre in Malegaon, and soon a fire had spread to the seats. We have now learnt that Rakesh is quite miffed over the incident and wants to know how the film got released without his permission.

A source points out, “The owner of Central Cinema, where the incident took place, hadn’t taken Roshan Sr’s approval. How did a copy of the film then find its way into his premises?”

When contacted, Rakesh informs, “Only I have the rights of ‘Karan Arjun’. I really wonder how it was released without my consent. My office is looking into the matter.”

Sheikh Shafiq, owner of Central Cinema in Malegaon, when contacted over how the incident unfolded in the first place, had reasoned that people go out of control when they see Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan movies in Malegaon. “We have had terrible experiences in the past too and in quite a few cinema halls here. They insert crackers in underwear and bring them in; it is just not possible to keep them at bay. They get excited about it, but we are suffering as a result. The act needs to be condemned in no uncertain terms; the audience here is so obstinate that sometimes it happens despite police being around them. This time we managed to save the property but I really don’t know what to do in the days ahead. For now, we have replaced ‘Karan Arjun’ with the Ajay Devgn starrer ‘Hulchul’,” he had added, revealing that he was screening ‘Karan Arjun’ simply because he had been facing huge losses since March 2020 owing to the lockdown and hence could not resist taking the risk.

However, when we called Shafiq now to understand how he’d screened ‘Karan Arjun’ without getting a green signal from Rakesh, who has produced and directed the film, Shafiq excused himself, saying, “I am busy. I will call you back.” But the call never came and repeated attempts to call him were in vain.

The source maintains, “Something is definitely fishy. It is possible that a DVD copy was run in the Malegaon theatre. It is totally illegal and needs to be looked into.”