Bharatmata theater will stay, assures Union Textile minister

After a controversy over eviction of only Marathi movie theater in the city, Bharatmata, Union textile minister Dayanidhi Maran today came in defense of it and assured that the theater would stay.

"I assure that the Bharatmata theater would stay and serve the purpose of showing Marathi movies for people here," Maran told reporters after reviewing the theater, which is located on the land owned by National Textile Corporation in Lalbaug in central Mumbai.

Maran said he belongs to Tamil Nadu, where Tamil films are popular and he understands feelings of Marathi people.

"We have a chief minister from film industry and I am personally fond of Tamil films. So, I understand the feelings of Marathi people for the theater," Maran said.

Chief  minister Ashok Chavan who was with Maran expressed happiness over the Centre’s assurance. "We had requested the Centre to help in the issue and they have given in-principal approval to that," he said.

The theater is a cultural symbol of mill workers staying in the area and the State Government is also wants that the theater should stay at its place, Chavan said.
     
In the first week of the month, the city civil court had dismissed an appeal filed by the owners of Bharatmata theatre challenging the eviction notice issued to them in 2002.

Kapil Bhopatkar, owner of the over 70-year-old theatre, had approached the court in September 2002 appealing against the eviction notice issued by the National Textile Corporation.