Director Roland Emmerich wary of how Indians would react.
By Dileep Thekkethil
As the film fraternity is waiting for the release of the most sought after sequel of the 1996 Academy Award-winning movie ‘Independence Day’ directed by Roland Emmerich, India has reason to feel happy. This time, the aliens have spared the country’s cities and monuments.
According to Mumbai Mirror, ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ shows famous skyscrapers, including Dubai’s Burj Khalifa and cities like Las Vegas, London, and Singapore lying gutted and smoke-filled, but not even a single Indian city or monument is shown affected, thanks to the overwhelming sensitivity of Indians.
The movie revolves around the second visit of alien warships that are as diabolic as its alien pilots. This time, the visitors are much more equipped, stocking more advanced warheads than what Earth had prepared through re-engineering the alien technology since the earlier visit.
Highlights of the poster and the trailer of the movie are the scene where monuments like the Petronas towers and the Burj Khalifa are left in rubble.
According to Mumbai Mirror, Emmerich planned to shoot some of the destruction scenes in India, showing Gateway of India and Taj Mahal engulfed in flames but due to the sentimental approach of Indians that might hamper the release of the movie in the country, the director decided it.
“Well, Indians are too touchy. Keeping the sensitivities of all the religious groups and other activists in mind, the makers were asked to not shoot in India or portray any prominent monuments being damaged,” a source from the 20th Century Fox, the producers of the movie, was quoted by Mumbai Mirror.
In the last global catastrophic movie of the director, ‘2012’, an Indian scientist who is left behind to die along with his family, played a significant role as he was the first to inform about the impending disaster.
The new movie of Emmerich is slated for worldwide release on June 24 and will not figure any of the Indian cities or monuments. According to Mumbai Mirror, a source inside the Indian subsidiary of the production house said the decision to not to include Indian cities and monuments was taken by an internal committee after considering opinions of several policy makers.
“There was also a request to only represent India on one of the film’s posters, by showing an attack on the Taj Mahal. But this too was rejected,” the source added.
Even though the star of the earlier movie Will Smith is missing, this time Australian actor Liam Hemsworth takes over as America’s best fighter pilot.