The premiere of the latest film starring Amitabh Bachchan, the Bollywood icon, was cancelled last night because of security concerns over a dispute about the native language of Bombay.

Protesters threw stones and smashed glass panes at a shopping mall that houses a multiplex cinema in the upmarket Juhu area of Bombay a few hours before the debut of The Last Lear. Billboards advertising the English-language film, which opens in cinemas tomorrow, have also been defaced in recent days.

The dispute began at the weekend when Mr Bachchan's wife, Jaya, made a speech in Bombay in Hindi, explaining that it was the local language of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, from where she hails. Raj Thackeray, a local right-wing politician, interpreted her remarks as an insult to speakers of Marathi, the indigenous language of the southwestern state of Maharashtra, of which Bombay is capital. He urged people to boycott all films made by the Bachchan clan and any products they endorse.

Critics accuse Mr Thackeray, the founder of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (Maharashtra Renaissance Party), of courting controversy to win votes from Marathi speakers in elections next year.

In February he sparked violent clashes in Bombay when he made a speech accusing migrant workers from northern India, especially Uttar Pradesh, of stealing jobs from Maharashtrans. He was arrested on charges of stoking communal tension, but released soon afterwards.

Mr Bachchan, 66, who is also from Uttar Pradesh, sought to defuse the dispute yesterday, writing on his website that neither he nor his family would ever insult Marathi speakers. “The casual off-the-cuff remarks made by her [Jaya] ... were without malice or deliberate intent,” he said.

Mr Bachchan, whose son, Abishek, is married to the actress Aishwarya Rai, is the head of Bollywood's first family and has acted in more than 140 movies in a career spanning almost 40 years.

Shubho Shekhar Bhattacharjee, the head of Planman Motion Pictures, which produced The Last Lear, said that the premiere was cancelled because “we didn't want to put our guests at risk”.

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