By Rina Chandran
MUMBAI (Reuters) - Theatres in Mumbai turned fortresses on Friday for release of a Bollywood film whose star is locked in a duel with a radical Hindu group, sparking worries India's financial hub is being undermined by parochial politics.
Several multiplex chains decided against showing 'My Name is Khan' for fear of attacks by the hardline Shiv Sena party.
The controversy was sparked by the film's hero Shah Rukh Khan's recent remarks calling for Pakistani players to be included in India's popular IPL cricket league.
Hundreds of police and reserve police personnel were deployed to protect cinemas, including plainclothesmen inside theatres to stop potential violence. Police have so far detained 2,000 Shiv Sena members as a precaution.
Analysts and politicians have warned the Sena's tactics may hurt Mumbai's image as a cosmopolitan city and its efforts to model itself as an international financial centre like Dubai or Singapore. Mumbai is also home to the Bollywood film industry.
The protests have also spread to Delhi and Ahmedabad.
Shiv Sena, which runs the Mumbai municipality, draws political sustenance from hardline Hinduism and an ultra-nationalism that includes strident opposition to Pakistan.
Small groups of moviegoers, who typically throng films featuring Khan, arguably Bollywood's most successful star, stood outside some theatres in Mumbai, watched over by police in riot gear.
"I came to see the movie because it's been so controversial, and because I am a huge fan of Shah Rukh Khan," said Subhash Kandrep, who stood outside Inox multiplex with friends.
"I don't see why a movie should not be shown just because some people are protesting over what Khan said."
Khan, who plays an autistic man subject to racial bias in the United States after the September 11 attacks, kept up a torrent of tweets through the night.
It was ironic, he said, that a film made for peace "has led to so much angst in my own house. My city. My country. Am I political or politically incorrect?"
Trade analysts say about 1.2 billion rupees (16 million pounds) is at stake, with Mumbai and Maharashtra state typically accounting for more than a quarter of a Bollywood film's revenues.
The Sena, which upholds the rights of Mumbai's indigenous Marathi community, has in recent weeks also turned its ire on industrialist billionaire Mukesh Ambani and cricketer Sachin Tendulkar for remarks the Sena perceived as being anti-Mumbai.
The Sena's stance has triggered a heated debate across the country, with politicians, film stars and businesses weighing in.
The skirmish in Mumbai comes as local politics have also rattled other cities in India, including the IT hub of Hyderabad, home to Indian operations of multinationals including Microsoft and Amazon, which has been repeatedly shut down over protests for the creation of a new state carved out of Andhra Pradesh state.
(Additional reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Krittivas Mukherjee and Jerry Norton)
