A policeman stands guard outside a cinema in Siliguri. A Telegraph picture

Siliguri, May 24: It?s the end of days for Jo Bole So Nihaal.

Barely four days after it was released in theatres across the country, the Sunny Deol-starrer has been taken off cinema screens in Siliguri, following a ban imposed by the government.

Police also carried out a series of raids on CD parlours to ensure that the CDs of the film are not readily available in the market. ?We will continue the raids over the next few days as well. However, we did not come across any CDs of the movie during the raids today,? said a police source.

Local theatre owners and the distributor of the film, however, said such an abrupt withdrawal of the movie has put them in a difficult situation.

?Not only have we lost money because the movie has been taken off screen in the middle of the week, it was difficult to find a replacement,? said Biswadeep Dutta, the owner of Biswadeep Cinema on Hill Cart Road.

?Instead of banning the movie, the government should have followed the Mumbai example and provided security to cinemas showing the film,? said another owner. ?Especially when the link between the blasts in Delhi and the screening of the film has not yet been established.?

But even as theatre owners and the film distributor have been forced to count their losses, members of the local Sikh community welcomed the government?s decision.

?The government has done this to prevent any untoward incident. We appreciate the decision,? said G.S. Hora, the president of Guru Singh Sabha (GSS), which manages the gurudwara on Sevoke Road.

?Sikhs have raised objection to the title of the movie Jo Bole So Nihaal. From what I have read and seen on TV clippings, the movie also has some objectionable scenes. If the title is changed and the objectionable scenes removed, I feel it could still be screened,? said Hora.

Gurmeet Singh Saluja, the owner of a prominent hotel here and the treasurer of GSS, also hailed the government ban. ?It could have led to unnecessary problems and the government has done the right thing,? he said.

?Barring the title, the movie, I believe, has nothing to do with the Sikh religion. The filmmakers should have known better than to hurt our sentiments,? said Gurdeep Singh, who owns a shop in the gurudwara complex.

Incidentally, all the three Sikh residents of the town The Telegraph spoke to said they had not seen the film. There are about 500 Sikh families in Siliguri and its surrounding areas. According to Hora, most of these families have been living here since the Partition.