Lucky Ali’s Ya Hussain number in David offends Shia community, pulled out of the flick

Singer Lucky Ali, actor Neil Nitin Mukesh and director Bijoy Nambiar have been under the scanner of certain sensitive communities ever since the song Ya Hussain was aired. The minority community has urged Bejoy to remove the song as they feel it doesn’t befit their definitions of propriety. The song was played to the accompaniment of a sequence showing a Moharram procession in the film. The fact that the singer Lucky Ali was also a part of the same community that objected to the song, added an even more anxious edge to the safety of the film as it approached release. Rather than risk the wrath of the radicals, Bejoy invited members of the apprehensive community to view the song sequence and judge for themselves whether it is offensive. Now after seeing the response of respected members of the community Bejoy has voluntarily decided to remove the song. Says Bejoy, “The song Ya Hussain had now been deleted from my film. The song has been taken out. Only the music has been kept now” Bejoy says he had a long discussion with prominent members of the community which objected the song. “They objected to the song. But they were kind enough to accept my invitation to discuss the matter. After a lengthy discussion it was decided that it would be better if I didn’t hurt anyone’s sentiments. So I’ve decided to remove the song.” Inviting disgruntled elements for a discussion seems to Bejoy the right way to solve the crisis of extravagant moral policing. “If one doesn’t extend a hand of friendship they would just go on protesting. It’s better to sort it out through discussion rather than risk protests that could harm the release of the film.” Bejoy admits to a feeling of frustration at the moral censorship of cinema in this country. “Sadly this is the state of the nation that we’re living in. Personally I am anguished at being restricted at even the idea level. When I was writing David I had no intention of pissing of anyone. Then why am I being put through this?” Bejoy says there was no time to put up a fight. “I know I could fight it out. But I can’t delay my film’s release. If David was a star-studded film I could take that risk. But I can’t afford to lose my release window. The smartest thing I could do was find a compromise. So before the protests could get out of hand I invited the disgruntled section to see the portion of my film where the song Ya Hassain occurs. Then we had a long discussion. And we decided to remove the vocals.” Bejoy admits that the artistes involved with the song were under stress. “Lucky Ali was being hounded with messages. He being Muslim offending his own community was something that I couldn’t deal with. Lucky requested I do something about the situation. Neil was also being hounded. I didn’t want my artistes to suffer for my creativity.” As for the controversy over the other song Damadam mast kalandar stays in the film. Says Bejoy, “I don’t see what the problem is. On the contrary we’re renewing the life cycle of the legendary song. It stays.”