Entertainment: Smriti Irani acts against Pehredar Piya ki after an online campaign to ban the show

Sony’s Pehreda Piya ki has found itself in another controversy as Minister of Information and Broadcasting Smriti Irani has taken action against the show after coming across an online petition to ban the show, filed on change.org. The ministry has reportedly asked BCC (Broadcasting Content Complaints Council) to look into the matter on priority basis.

The petition was posted by an angry viewer Mansi Jain on Change.org and more than 50,000 people have signed the petition to demand a ban on the TV show.

“Pehredar piya ki. - A 10-year-old impressionable little kid (piyaa) caressing and stalking a lady who's more than double his age and filling sindoor in her maang is being telecast at prime time -8:30pm on Sony,” Jain writes in the petition, “It is to be devoured by the entire nation. Imagine the kind of influence it will steadily and perpetually infuse in the viewers’ mindset. We want a ban on the serial. We do not want our kids to be influenced by such TV serials. Join us in signing the petition to ban this serial.”

But some people are supporting the show also.

Jain’s petition has received more than 50,000 signatures, and counting.

When Tejaswi, lead actress was asked if she finds the show progressive or regressive, she told IANS “I think it's really progressive. But again, a lot of people believe in judging a book by its cover... They love being judgmental and people have nothing better to do than judging somebody else's work. Then okay, what can I do?”

The TV show Pehredaar Piya Ki, which revolves around the marriage of a wealthy 10- year-old boy to a woman twice his age, has been criticised for its bizarre plot and for promoting child marriage. Pehredaar Piya Ki stars Tejaswi Prakash Wayangankar as Diya Ratan Singh and Afaan Khan as her husband Prince Ratan Singh.

Sanjay Dutt hopes his love life is not shown in his biopic

Actor Sanjay Dutt hopes nothing about his love life will be shown in the movie. He has been open about his life to filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani, who is helming a biopic on him.

Hirani said Dutt has been brave to open up about his life and insisted that the biopic won’t be one-sided.

When asked if his love life will be shown in the film, Dutt told reporters, “I hope nothing is shown but rest depends on Raju.”

There were reports that Dutt was a little apprehensive to open up about his life and did not even give time to Ranbir to help him prepare for his role.

When asked about the same, Dutt said, “It will take Ranbir 50 years to do research on me. He has been a very special part of my life, not because of the biopic, but his family's relation with mine.”

Ranbir, who will play Dutt in the biopic, said he hopes his performance turns out good as he thinks that the actor is one of the most important people not only in the film industry but also in the country.

The biopic is scheduled to release next year.

Big B to do Nagraj Manjule’s Hindi directorial debut

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan will star in Marathi director Nagraj Manjule’s maiden Hindi film.

The 39-year-old critically-acclaimed director, best known for his Marathi films Fandry and Sairat, took to Facebook to announce the news.

“My favourite actor (referring to Bachchan) since childhood, whose films I grew up on, will now be the hero of my first Hindi film. I cannot be happier,” wrote Manjule. The filmmaker also reminisced his childhood memories and recalled how they were associated with the veteran actor. He shared that he used to entertain his friends by telling them stories from Bachchan’s films such as Don, Coolie, Satte Pe Satta, Shehenshah, Laawaris, Kaalia and Sharaabi.

“When I watched Deewar, I started going to school with a knot in my shirt and would keep it despite getting a thrashing from my teacher.”

Bachchan had praised the director for his National Award-winning movie, Sairat in January this year on Twitter.

With inputs from PTI