Ajmer shrine serves notice to Vipul Shah for dargah shots

A shrine committee in Rajasthan's Ajmer has served a legal notice to director Vipul Shah for filming a controversial scene of his forthcoming "Namaste London" on Katrina Kaif in the dargah (shrine) premises without taking prior permission.

The shrine committee of Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti in Ajmer, over 140 km from here, is demanding to remove all the scenes shot in the shrine premises before the movie is releases.

The decision of the committee came two days after Shah denied any controversy with the shrine committee over the filming of a sequence in the shrine.

Shah, while addressing a press conference here a couple of days back had said that all the issues have been settled and no scene would be cut from the movie.

"All the arrangements were made by the local coordinator. Several police officials and people associated to the shrine were with us during the shooting of the movie inside the shrine. But still if anyone has any objection we are ready to feel sorry or will even cut the scene," Vipul Shah had said.

As per Islamic traditions, women wearing skimpy outfits are not allowed to enter a shrine. Officials of the shrine had, therefore, taken exception to Kaif's attire.

Ahmed Raza, a shrine committee member, said that the issue was closed after the apology was tendered.

"However it does not mean that the director is free to show the scenes shot in the shrine," Raza said.

"It hurts the religious sentiments of the people," he said. "All we want is the director ensures that the scenes shot inside the shrine are removed," he added.