After a two day lull, shooting of Rani Mukherjee-starrer and Yash Raj banner film Choodiyan invited public ire again in this holy city.

The trouble started this morning when the entire crew, including Rani Mukherjee, Konkona Sen and director Pradeep Sarkar, was about to begin the shooting at Manikarnika Ghat.

Owing to barricades, some devout were unable to visit the Siddhi Vinayak temple to offer prayers, which provoked public resentment. The public anger was fuelled by Shiv Sena activists, led by Gulshan Kapoor, who reached the spot.

Local residents and Shiv Sainiks raised anti-film and anti-Rani slogans, demanding shooting be stopped at the ghat, which is mythologically a famous cremation site.

Intervention by police and film crew prevented the matter from exacerbating and the shooting commenced. Since November 12, the shooting of the film has been punctuated by protests and disturbances. First, it was the media personnel, who were allegedly manhandled by the private security guards escorting the film crew.

The next day, Rani rebuffed the media at a news conference. Later, Kranti Shiv Sena and Shiv Sena started pitting against the films shooting, particularly against the hazel-eyed actress.