The screening of the film was halted after local Shiv Sainiks led by the Nashik district chief of the women's wing of the party, Satyabhama Gadekar, and city unit chief, Datta Gaikwad, staged demonstrations in front of the theatre and put up a notice board telling people to boycott the film as it was an affront on Hindu culture.

Sensing trouble, the theatre owners postponed the film's screening for two days, hoping that they would be able to run the shows from Sunday onwards, under police protection once the Shiv Sena convention concluded.Now, another film Hyderabad Blues is showing at the theatre from today as the management has suspended the screening of Fire indefinitely.

Significantly, the theatre had earlier asked for police protection. However, the city police commissionerate had expressed its inability toprovide protection as the local police were busy with bandobast for the Shiv Sena convention.

Speaking to The Indian Express, city police commissioner Ambalal Verma, admitted that the theatre management did ask for police protection last week, but owing to the Shiv Sena convention it was impossible to entertain the demand. But he hastened to add that if the theatre management approached the police again, they would be provided police protection.

The controversial film has been the target of the Shiv Sena right since its release in the country. The film was withdrawn from theatres after Shiv Sena workers ransacked theatres in Delhi and Mumbai. The film was then sent for a review. It was recently cleared by the review committee without any cuts.

Sena chief Bal Thackeray has accused the filmmakers of corrupting the people's minds and insulting Hindus by giving Hindu names to the `perverted' characters in film.Thackeray spoke about the film even at his party's convention here on Saturday, stating thatthough the film had been released again without any cuts, these who were seeing it were cursing the filmmakers. Speaking at a public meeting later, he claimed that there was a conspiracy to corrupt the minds of the younger generation through such films. He again urged people to counter the threat by boycotting it.