Bhansali an offender, says Yogi
SPEAKING IN UP’S GORAKHPUR, THE UP CM SAID DIRECTOR SANJAY LEELA BHANSALI WAS AS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ROW AS THOSE ISSUING THE BOUNTIES FOR BEHEADING
GORAKHPUR/BENGALURU/NEWDELHI: Politics over controversial Bollywood film Padmavati gathered steam on Tuesday as Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath blamed the film’s director for waves of violent protests that forced the movie’s release to be put off and resulted in death threats against the crew.
Speaking at the Gorakhnath temple in UP’ s Go rak hp ur, Ad it yanath said Padmavati’s director Sanjay Leela Bhansali was as responsible for the row as those issuing bounties for beheading B hans ali and actor Deepik aP adukone,w hop lays the legendary Rajput queen Padmini.
“He (Bhansali) is a habitual (offender) in playing with people’s sentiments. I feel that if those who are issuing threats are guilty, then action should also be taken against the film maker ,” the chief minister said. He condemned the offers of bounty but said his government would not allow anyone to “hurt the sentiments of 22 crore people of UP”.
His government, along with that of neighbouring Rajasthan, has already moved to block the movie’s release unless “objectionable” parts are edited out to assuage the sentiment soft he Ra jput community. Another neigh- bour, Madhya Pradesh, has already banned the Rs 150 crore film while Punjab chief minister Am arin der Singh has backed the protesters.
Protests headed by the Rajasthan-based Shri Rajput Karni Se na claim the movie insults Rajputs by filming a romantic sequence between Muslim emperor Alauddin Khilji and Padmini, who is said to have killed herself to avoid being captured by the former.
Bhansali has repeatedly denied shooting any such sequence and historians are divided over whether Padmini existed.
Censor board chief Prasoon Joshi has said it is trying to come up with a balanced decision. On Tuesday, the ministry of information and broadcasting said the Central Board of Film Certification( CB F C) should be allowed to do its job .“CB F Ch as been tasked with certain work. Let it do its job ,” minister of state for information and broadcasting Raj ya vardhan Sing hR at ho re told reporters in Delhi.
The CB F Ch as asked the makers of Pad ma va tito resubmit their application for a certificate, which was earlier rejected on technical grounds but senior actors such as Shabana Azmi have questioned the board’ s decision to defer the process because this delays the film’s release.
Union Minister Birender Singh said those opposing the film should see it first and then demand cuts if anything was found to be objectionable.
The Supreme Court has refused to block the release of the movie and Ben ga lu ru police have beefed up security outside the house of former Badminton champion Pr aka sh Paduk one, in view of threats received by his daughter Deepika.
Several people, including Ha ryan aB JP leader S ur a jP al Amu, have offered bounties for be heading her. On Tuesday, a police complaint was filed in Gurgaon against A mu for offering a bounty of ₹10 crore. The party has already asked him to explain his offer.
In Bengal, the row has turned into a flashpoint between Hindu groups and the ruling Trina mool Congress.