MUMBAI, May 30: Bollywood has come out fighting for leading actor Aamir Khan whose latest film has been blackballed by cinemas fearing mob violence because of the actor’s comments about a controversial dam.

Fanaa has not opened in western Gujarat state after politicians reacted furiously when the actor highlighted the plight of thousands displaced by the multi-billon dollar Narmada Valley project.

The movie was being watched closely by the Indian film industry as one of two high-profile releases it hoped could rescue a dismal first half year.

But its producer said the film was losing valuable box-office earnings because of the failure to open in Gujarat, one of the country’s wealthiest states and controlled by the right-wing Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party.

“We are suffering losses of 10 million rupees every day because the film is not released in Gujarat,” producer Yash Chopra told reporters on Monday.

The film opened across India on Friday.

BJP leaders have demanded Khan apologise for his stand in raising the plight of the thousands displaced by the dam-building on the Narmada river in western India.

The project is designed to create power and irrigate thousands of hectares of barren farming land in Gujarat and neighbouring states, but opponents say it will displace 200,000 people.—AFP