New Delhi, Nov 5(India Today): Once again, Kedarnath has entered rough waters. Just a few days after the teaser was released, it received backlash from priests from the shrine-town, who demanded a blanket ban on the Sara Ali Khan film. The teerth purohits of Uttarakhand's Chardham have said that the film hurts Hindu religious sentiments, as it promotes 'love jihad'.

The chairman of the Kedarnath priests, Vinod Shukla have said in a statement, "We will launch an agitation if the movie is not banned as we have been told that it hurts the Hindu religious sentiments by promoting 'love jihad'(an alleged campaign under which Muslim men target the non-Muslim women for conversion to Islam)."

The chairman added that the priests were also protesting against the film as there "vulgar dance sequences" being shot around the shrine. Incidentally, locals are also against the release.

Ajendra Ajay, a state BJP leader has demanded that the film should be banned. While tweeting his discontent, he said that protests have already begun in Rudraprayag and Kotdwar and tagged the chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification, Prasoon Joshi for the film to be banned.

Ajay said, "The movie appears to be an effort to promote love jihad. Couldn't the director find a single Hindu name or character for the main lead? Also, kissing and romantic scenes in a holy place worshipped by crores of people is a sign of disrespect to the religion."

Ajay objected to the film's poster that "shows the hero, a Muslim carrying the heroine, a Hindu", in a palanquin with the Kedarnath shrine in the background.

Kedarnath is Sara Ali Khan's debut film and features Sushant Singh Rajput as her love interest, and will release on December 7. The film is set in the backdrop of the floods that struck the town in 2013.