'The Last Lear' to open in Maharashtra despite boycott threat - producers

By Shilpa Jamkhandikar

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The producers of a new Amitabh Bachchan-starrer said on Tuesday the film would open in cinemas in Maharashtra this week despite a local political party's threat to boycott films by the actor and his family.

Raj Thackeray, head of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), had issued the boycott threat on Monday after Bachchan's actress-politician wife Jaya spoke in Hindi at a Bollywood function in Mumbai.

Jaya Bachchan said she would speak in Hindi as her family hailed from Uttar Pradesh, a state where the language is widely spoken.

The remark irked MNS, a proponent of Maharashtra’s state language Marathi. The party announced a boycott of films and products endorsed by any member of the Bachchan family -- Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya, their son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai.

Television reports on Monday said MNS party workers in Mumbai tore down posters of Amitabh Bachchan's "The Last Lear," an English-language film slated for release on Friday.

But producers Planman Motion Pictures said there were no plans to delay the film’s release.

"A film release is not based on emotional issues, there are practical and monetary considerations as well," company CEO Shubho Shekhar Bhattacharjee told Reuters.

"If the film’s release is delayed in Mumbai by a day or two due to this matter and we lose some money, so be it," he said.