Satish Kaushik escapes death in Itanagar violence; protesters burn down his 5 theatres

The situation of Arunachal Pradesh is currently not good. Mob burnt the private residence of deputy chief minister Chowna Mein when the state government decided to give permanent resident status (PRC) to two tribes from outside the state. This also led to a great loss to Bollywood actor-director Satish Kaushik as five theatres with whom he is associated with were also burnt.

In an interview to IANS, Satish Kaushik said, “I am associated with five theatres named Picture Time. I am a promoter. I got a call this (Saturday) morning from the owner, Sushil Choudhary, that our five theatres were burnt.”

The first International Film Festival in Itanagar was called off due to the agitation. Satish Kaushik, producer Rony Lahiri and award-winning filmmaker Utpal Borpujari, Manju Barua and Smaujjal Kashyap were all stuck in a hotel for hours. The ‘Tere Naam’ director was later evacuated to Guwahati along with 50 other delegates.

While talking about the incident Mr. Kaushik said, “I reached yesterday (Friday) and went to the hotel. I was supposed to get ready for the evening function… But they (organisers) said ‘hold on’ there is some problem … The event could not take place due to protests. The protesters were on a rampage and pelting stones. We couldn’t make it to the convention centre. There was a fire. We got stuck. We thought we’d leave in the morning but we got stuck.”

For more updates, keep reading our space.

Also Read: Satish Kaushik to don the director’s hat after 4 years with ‘Kaagaz’ starring Pankaj Tripathi