The official trailer of Mohalla Assi, starring Sunny Deol, Sakshi Tanwar and Ravi Kishan in the lead roles begins with a stream of frames, where different characters use the same desi expletive. Before you know it, it plunges into Deol’s character taking on the challenge of building the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and into what looks like a descent into fanaticism.

Set in the 1990s, Mohalla Assi examines the commercialisation of religion and the proliferation of foreigners in the holy city of Varanasi. Deol plays a pious and rigid Sanskrit teacher in Varanasi’s famed Assi Ghat who cannot come to terms with the changing face of his city. All this unfolds against the backdrop of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement to build a temple in Ayodhya at the site of the Babri Mosque and the implementation of the Mandal commission report granting reservations to Other Backward Castes.

The movie based on the book Kashika Assi by Kashi Nath Singh, an award-winning author is a story that goes through the events in 1990 and 1998 including Ram Janmabhoomi movement and Mandal Commission implementation. The film is directed by Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi and is set to release on 16 November 2018.

The film’s release comes after a two-year legal battle and several production delays. The Central Board of Film Certification refused to clear the movie in March 2016, claiming that it could offend religious sentiments. After the producer moved the Delhi High Court, the movie was cleared with one cut and an A certificate in January. Watch the trailer of the movie here.

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