Kangana Ranaut says film script on Bilkis Bano case ready; calls out OTT platforms for rejecting it

Kangana Ranaut recently took to her social media to confirm that she has a script ready for the Bilkis Bano case. However, the actress claimed that despite working on the script for three years, she has still not been able to find a producer for the film or an OTT platform for streaming rights. For the unversed on March 3, 2002, a violent mob descended upon the family of 21-year-old Bilkis Bano in Randhikpur village near Ahmedabad. The woman was gang-raped, while seven members of her family were murdered. 

Kangana Ranaut says she is unable to find people to back her film on Bilkis Bano 

On January 9, Kangana Ranaut took to her X (formerly Twitter) account to share why she has not been able to make a film on Bilkis Bano's case. This revelation came after a fan of the actress requested her to work on a project on the subject since she advocates for women’s empowerment. The social media user wrote in his post that the actress would be "able to show the world, how a state government with some terrorist outfit unleashed terror on a particular community." The user also added, that through the film, Kangana would be able to show "how Bilkis fought against the corrupt system, when the men responsible were released unlawfully and garlanded in a sic society."

Replying to this, the Tejas actress claimed, “Want to make that story I have the script ready, researched and worked on it for three years but @netflix, @amazonIN and other studios wrote back to me that they have clear guidelines they don’t do so-called politically motivated films, @JioCinema said we don’t work with Kangana because she supports BJP and Zee is going through a merger, what are my options?” 

What do we know about the Bilkis Bano case? 

On March 3, 2002, a violent mob descended upon the family of 21-year-old Bilkis Bano in Randhikpur village near Ahmedabad. The woman was gang-raped, while seven members of her family were murdered. In 2008, a special court convicted 11 men and sentenced them to life imprisonment for raping Bilkis Bano and murdering seven of her family members. In August 2022, as part of the Gujarat government's remission policy, 11 convicts were released from Godhra sub-jail. This was followed by SC issuing notice to the Centre and Gujarat government on PIL jointly filed by former CPI MP Subhashini Ali, journalist Revati Laul and professor Roop Rekha Verma against the premature release of convicts. In the latest development, on January 8, the Supreme Court quashed remission to 11 convicts, saying the orders were "stereotyped" and passed without application of mind. SC directed convicts to surrender to jail authorities within two weeks. 

(With inputs from PTI)