The following statement was issued by Ajay Shah, Convenor, American Hindus Against Defamation, in response to the decision by Executive Producer of Eyes Wide Shut to edit out the Bhagwad Gita shloka from the UK and other foreign distribution of the movie.
American Hindus Against Defamation (AHAD) is pleased to hear that the executive producer of the movie, based in UK has decided take note of the protest by AHAD and its sister organizations in UK and around the world and edit out the Hindu shloka (verse ) from the movie Eyes Wide Shut.
AHAD demands that the future distribution of the movie, through cable video etc. also do not carry this verse.
AHAD congratulates the Hindu community for coming together to protest the misuse of Shree Bhagwad Gita. Within just a week of launching the protest, over 700 people signed the online protest (http://www.hindunet.org/ahad/eyes), and in the same week, during the Dharma Sansad (gathering of Hindu religious heads in USA) held in Austin, TX, an overwhelming majority of 500 Hindus present protested the use of shloka in this movie.
AHAD also thanks its sister organizations in UK (VHP, Temple Council, HSS etc), India, the Caribbean countries, etc. who rallied the Hindus around the world to protest the inclusion of this verse. This was indeed a global protest.
AHAD thanks the widow of Mr. Kubrick Ms. Christiane Kubrick and the Executive Producer of the movie Jan Varlan for their role in removing the offending placement of the verse from the movie.
This is the fourth incident that AHAD coalition has successfully taken up. AHAD, in past protested the distortion of Lord Krishna’s picture on Aerosmith’s Nine Lives cover, inclusion of Hindu deities at the Karma Club in Chicago, and improper portrayal of Hindu deities in Universal Studio’s Xena : Warrior Princess show.