Uttar Pradesh lifts ban on "Aaja Nachle"

Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit smiles during a news conference to promote her new movie ''Aaja Nachle,'' ''Come in New Delhi, November 27, 2007.

LUCKNOW (Reuters) - The Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday lifted a ban on Madhuri Dixit’s much-awaited comeback film "Aaja Nachle," even as the Punjab government imposed a ban on the screening of the film in the state.

The film ran into trouble over derogatory references to a particular community in a song in the movie.

Following suit, Punjab also imposed a ban on the Bollywood flick on Saturday.

The ban in Uttar Pradesh was lifted following an apology from the film makers.

"Film maker Yash Chopra has tendered a formal apology to the Chief Minister following which the UP government has decided to withdraw the ban order," the state cabinet secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh told Reuters on Saturday.

"Chopra has also assured that he will not use those objectionable excerpts in any subsequent film either," he said.

The ban on "Aaja Nachle" in Punjab was, however, still on.

Punjab Chief Secretary Ramesh Inder Singh told Reuters, "There is a song in the movie that creates caste discrimination, so we have banned the movie today," he said.

"If the objectionable part is deleted then obviously we will lift the ban," he said.

Film Director Anil Mehta told Reuters he was happy to know about the recent developments and welcomed the support from the Uttar Pradesh government.

In the movie, Dixit plays the role of a divorced choreographer who returns to India to save the theatre where she had first learnt to dance.