KOLKATA: A Taliban-like dress code at the KMC-owned Star Theatre drove a birthday girl , wearing a dress that barely revealed her knees, to tears with the hall staff labelling it 'drishtikotu' or obscene.

It was only when her outraged father intervened that she was allowed in. Neither KMC , nor Artage—the private firm managing the heritage theatre—had any reservations about screening Shah Rukh Khan-starrer 'Happy New Year' in which heroines gyrate to songs in skimpy dresses. After waiting for three days for an apology, the father filed a complaint with the state women's commission on Friday.

On October 28, the Class XI student, her father and younger brother went for the movie to celebrate her turning 17. She looked natty in a black-and-white floral print dress. The trio was about to enter the theatre when a female security guard asked the girl to step aside. "I thought I was being taken for frisking. But they took me to a ticket clerk's cubicle. He looked at my dress, pointed to the notice that read shorts aren't allowed and told me it was 'drishtikotu'. I felt so humiliated that I ran out crying," she recounted.

Her father was livid and questioned the hall staff's audacity to judge the appropriateness of his daughter's clothes. "When I confronted the ticket clerk, he maintained that boys wearing 'half pants' and girls wearing 'skirts that were like shorts' weren't allowed into the theatre. I couldn't believe it. Was I in Taliban territory? This happens in khap panchayats, not in Kolkata. Who gave them the authority to comment on her dress or act as moral police? It was a knee-length dress. She looked elegant and they had the gall to tell her she looked indecent!" he said.

Realizing they were in a soup, the security allowed her in. "But it was so sad to see my children sit grim-faced through the movie. I decided to have a word with the manager," he said.

Hall manager Ranjan Ganguly, who had been briefed about what had happened, refused an apology. The father then gave him a piece of his mind. "It is my daughter who will decide what she will wear, not you," he told Ganguly.

Actress June Malia, a member of the commission, expressed disgust, saying: "This is ridiculous. No one has the right to act moral police and decide what a girl or a woman will wear. That a theatre staff did this when she was accompanied by her father is outrageous."

The hall manager remained unperturbed and told TOI: "We have had many run-ins with patrons in the past but not allowed those with shorts and skirts. An exception was made in this case because it was her birthday."

On being asked what right he had to judge a girl's dress, he shifted responsibility to KMC. "We are simply following the rule that states that lungis, shorts and drunks are not allowed into the theatre. A skirt that is above the knee is like shorts," he insisted.

Mayor Sovan Chatterjee said he would "look into the incident" but did not approve of girls being turned out. "I have no knowledge of any KMC rule at Star Theatre that prohibits girls in skirts," he said.