Press Trust Of India
Jaipur/Bengaluru, Nov 15: The Shri Rajput Karni Sena has called for a country-wide bandh on December 1 opposing the film’s release. Meanwhile, Rajasthan minister Kiran Maheshwari Wednesday joined the chorus against Bollywood movie ‘Padmavati’.
The Maharashtra government ordered security cover to filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali in view of the growing threat.
The Rajasthan State Commission for Women (RSCW) also wrote to the Censor Board asking it to clear the “ambiguity” over the Sanjay Leela Bhansali film “in the interests of law and order”.
In Jaipur, Karni Sena leader Lokendra Singh Kalvi said the reported comments by actress Deepika Padukone, who plays the legendary queen in the movie, that nothing can stop the release of the film was provocative. “Deepika Padukone’s statement is provocative and I take it as a challenge. Therefore, I have called for a nationwide bandh,” Kalvi said.
“Ye jauhar ki jwala hai bahut kuch jalega. Rokna hai to Padmini ko rok lo (This is the flame of the Jauhar and a lot will burn. Stop it if you want to),” he threatened.
The Karni Sena seemed to have found some support in Maheshwari, a minister in the Vasundhara Raje government in Rajasthan. Maheshwari said she strongly opposed the film claiming that it was made purely for money making.
In a social media post, the minister said that Rani Padmini had performed ‘Jauhar’ with 16,000 women. “Misrepresentation in any case regarding the history of such immortal women cannot be accepted,” she wrote.
Rajasthan’s commission for women chief Suman Sharma, meanwhile, wrote to the Censor Board seeking clarity over the movie so that peace is maintained.
In a letter to Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chief Prasoon Joshi, Rajasthan’s commission for women chief Suman Sharma said that it needs to be seen that the movie does not affect the dignity of women. Citing protests in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra, she said such incidents were adversely affecting the law and order situation.
Members of the Shri Rajput Karni Sena claimed that not just the Rajput community or Hindu organisations but even Muslim leaders had come out against the film.
Karni Sena leader Kalvi demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi intervene in the matter saying the Centre had the powers, as per provisions of the Cinematography Act, to stop the release of a film for three months. That provision should be invoked in case of Padmavati which is slated to be released on December 1, he demanded.
“We are calling a country-wide bandh on December 1 if the film is released. We have the support of all castes and communities. We will hold public meetings and rallies in Gurgaon, Patna and Bhopal before that,” Kalvi told reporters.
He claimed that film hall owners’ association and distributors had refused to release the film in the state and leaders from political parties and communities were supporting the demand that there should be no distortion of historical facts. He said that the film maker had promised to organise a pre-screening before the censor board’s approval but he released the promo and song without taking the Rajput community into confidence. The sena is not demanding any pre-screening now but a total ban as the filmmaker had “betrayed”, he said.
The protests spread to the south as Rajput community Wednesday staged a demonstration and held a rally in Bengaluru. A large number of people from the Karni Rajput Sena turned up at the Town Hall in the heart of the city and marched up to the Freedom Park. A section of Kannada organisations too supported the Sena.
In Uttar Pradesh, Director General of Police Sulkhan Singh said the force had been asked to remain extra vigilant in view of the scheduled release of the film.
Bhansali had been facing trouble since he started shooting for the movie. The set of the movie was vandalised twice – in Jaipur and Kolhapur — and the director was roughed up by the Karni Sena during the Jaipur schedule of the film earlier this year.
The Supreme Court had recently refused to entertain a plea seeking a stay on the release of Padmavati, saying the censor board was yet to certify the movie.
