New Delhi - The premiere of Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan's film The Last Lear was cancelled Wednesday after activists of a regional political party vandalized the cinema hall in Mumbai where it was to be shown, news reports said.

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) attacked the hall after their leader Raj Thackeray called a boycott on all films by the Bachchan family and products endorsed by them, saying a remark by Amitabh Bachchan's wife Jaya had insulted Marathi speakers.

Jaya Bachchan, also an actor, recently said at a film function in Mumbai - home to the Hindi film industry and capital of western Maharashtra state - that she preferred to speak Hindi rather than the local language.

The couple's son Abhishekh Bachchan and his wife Aishwarya Rai are also top stars in the Bombay film industry. The film family endorses a range of commercial products.

MNS militants defaced several posters picturing the Bachchans, despite an apology by Jaya Bachchan published in an English-language daily newspaper. She said she had made an off-the-cuff remark that was not intended to hurt the sentiments of Marathis.

Amitabh Bachchan also wrote in his personal blog that his wife had not intended to offend anyone, and that the family would never show disrespect to the people of Maharashtra, where they had lived for most of their working lives. He asked for forgiveness if the "inadvertent" comments had caused any hurt.

The Mumbai premiere of The Last Lear, directed by award-winning director Rituparna Ghosh, was cancelled, but the opening in national capital Delhi would be held as scheduled on Thursday, IANS news agency quoted the film's producers as saying.

The Last Lear is an English-language film about an ageing actor, played by Amitabh Bacchan, comparing the arts of theatre and cinema.

The film, which was first shown in September 2007 at the Toronto film festival, is to be released in India on Friday. (dpa)