The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called for either a ban or a “temporary” delay in the release of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s period film Padmavati, saying it hurts the sentiments of the Rajput community and also to “prevent unnecessary tension” ahead of the Gujarat assembly elections, reports have said.
The Times of India reported on Wednesday that the BJP wrote to the Election Commission and Gujarat’s chief electoral officer, “to arrange for a pre-release viewing of the film by select Rajput representatives to alleviate their raised tempers and provide fair opportunity to prevent unnecessary tension ahead of polls”.
Gujarat will hold elections on December 9 and 14.
Members of the Rajput community have alleged that there has been an attempt to distort history by depicting a romantic angle between Rajput queen Padmavati and Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khilji.
Bhansali and the film’s team have denied several times that there is no romantic scene, song or dream sequence between Padmavati and Allauddin Khilji.
“We have received representations from the Kshatriya community opposing any purported distortion of history and character of Rani Padmavati in the movie. History says that Padmavati never met Alauddin Khilji,” BJP’s Gujarat unit vice-president IK Jadeja was quoted as saying by the Times of India.
“Any distortion in the movie which hurts sentiments of Rajput/Kshatriya community should be avoided as Gujarat is going to polls in December,” he said.
Maharashtra tourism minister Jaykumar Rawal has also demanded a ban on Padmavati and said the state government would write to the censor board on the issue.
“History and historical references are being twisted in this film. A legal disclaimer is being inserted just to save one’s skin,” Rawal said as he claimed that he was a descendant of the clan of Rawal Ratan Singh, Padmavati’s husband.
“I have told chief minister Devendra Fadnavis how facts are being twisted and passed off as history. You cannot take liberty with history and the film needs to be banned. We even intend to move the Centre over the Rajput community’s demand for a ban on the film,” Rawal added.
This comes days after Gujarat politician Shankersinh Vaghela announced he would like to watch the film ahead of its scheduled release. The BJP has also expressed a similar demand.
A Times of India also said reported that Manubhai Patel, president of Gujarat’s Multiplex Owners Association, has received a letter from Shree Rashtriya Rajput Karni Sena voicing its concerns and threatening to protest if the film is released.
“There is still a month to the release of the film and such disputes are usually resolved. However, we don’t know what the outcome will be considering the upcoming elections in the state,” Patel told the newspaper.
Padmavati has been on the receiving end of numerous violent protests in the past during which its sets were burned down and its director assaulted. Last month, a rangoli inspired by the film at a mall in Surat was vandalised by a mob.
Padmavati starring Deepika Padukone in the titular role, Shahid Kapoor as Ratan Singh and Ranveer Singh as Khilji is slated to be released on December 1.
