'Coffee with D' makers receive death threats

A satirical take on a journalist’s attempt to interview a certain ‘Don D’ in Karachi has landed a yet-to-be released Hindi movie in trouble.

The release of ‘Coffee with D’ — in which a “celebrated” journalist is interviewing a don holed up in Karachi — has been postponed by at least a week, even as the makers are keeping their fingers crossed.

The movie was slated to be released on Friday, but is now scheduled for January 13.

Director Vishal Mishra, producer Vinod Rahani and lead actor Sunil Grover are receiving anonymous calls, threatening them with dire consequences if references to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim are not removed from the film. The filmmakers have now approached the Delhi Police seeking action against the callers. Police said they are investigating, but no case has been registered so far.

“The calls are still coming. Hope the police will take necessary action and we would be able to release the movie as scheduled. We hope to release it on January 13 or may be on January 20,” Mishra told DH.

On whether any scenes and references to the don will be removed from the movie, Mishra chose not to answer the query. The trouble started following the release of the trailer on December 14. Later, the filmmakers had to remove references to the don following repeated threat calls.

“Since then, we have been receiving threat calls from different numbers asking us to make changes to the film. The caller has specifically told us to remove portions from the film that portray Dawood Ibrahim in a bad light and poke fun at him,” the police complaint stated. “He (the caller) also said that he will kill the entire crew and their families if we fail to comply with his demands,” it added.

On January 1, six calls were made between 4.40 pm and 9.12 pm from an internet number +344*. On December 31, calls were received from a mobile number [phone]****.
Following the threats calls, the makers had muted references to Dawood in the trailer.