Rs 5 Crore To Army Welfare Fund: 'Extortion' Or Donation?

A price has been set today for filmmakers to release their movies - of money, of talent and of a conscience. Since Karan Johar's video pledging never to work with Pakistani actors wasn't enough, the tag of Rs 5 crore for his Dharma Productions to donate - and I use the word carefully - to the Army Welfare Fund... was added, to ensure the film can be released on Diwali without threat of boycott or fears of vandalism. The deal between the film maker and Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena or MNS was brokered by no less than the state Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Several senior army officers have declared the idea of such a donation highly problematic - extortion in the name of the country's armed services. What kind of precedent does this set for India's maximum city? Is this just the beginning of the slide into the rabbit hole?