The protest against the release of Hindi film Padmavati has intensified in Rajasthan with Rajput groups in the Mewar region threatening to damage theatres if the film was shown and the exhibitors asking for police protection for the screening. The movie is set to hit the screens on December 1.
Padmavati has been facing trouble in Rajasthan since the beginning, as its sets in Jaigarh Fort near here were vandalised and filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali was thrashed in January this year. During a bandh organised in Chittorgarh last week, the protesters, including women, took out a march and burnt the film's posters.
Shri Rajput Karni Sena, which organised the bandh, alleged that the movie had distorted historical facts. Karni Sena patron Lokendra Singh Kalvi said the filmmakers were not willing to screen it to the Rajput groups before its release. “If the movie has objectionable scenes, we will not allow its screening in theatres,” he said.
Other Rajput groups, including the Jauhar Smriti Sansthan, have also demanded that the movie be shown to a few select intellectuals and historians before its release.
Pratap Singh Khachariyawas, a Rajput leader of the Opposition Congress, has demanded a ban on Padmavati , saying the film-makers were trying to sensationalise the personality of the 13th-14th century Rajput queen and tarnish the bravery of women who sacrificed their lives by committing jauhar (self-immolation).
