Hindustan Times ST (Jaipur)

Diya Kumari joins Padamavati row

- HT Correspond­ent htraj@hindustant­imes.com With input from agencies

JAIPUR THE BAJRANG DAL HAS SAID IT WILL PROTEST THE RELEASE OF THE FILM IN RAJASTHAN ON NOVEMBER 10

: The problems for filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali seems to keep mounting, now with a member of the erstwhile royal family and BJP MLA Diya Kumari saying that they will not allow the film to release if historical facts are distorted.

“No film should hurt sentiments of a community by twisting historical facts,” Kumari said on Tuesday. She said that Bhansali should not wrongly portray the story of Queen Padmavati. He should get the facts verified by a forum of historians and then release the film.

She added that Rajputs will not allow any distortion of history. “If the movie does not display authentic history or takes any liberties, it will not be allowed to be released.”

In September members of the Rajput Karni Sena had burnt posters of the movie in Jaipur and warned the makers that they will not let the film release in Rajasthan unless it’s pre-screened to Rajput and Hindu outfits.

Joining the Karni Sena, the Bajrang Dal said on Tuesday that it would protest the release of the controvers­ial film in Rajasthan on November 10.

Distributo­rs wary

Film distributo­rs in the state are also wary of releasing Padmavati”, scheduled to hit the screens on December 1. “I can talk about my company... We will not like to buy the distributi­on rights of the film till the controvers­y is resolved,” Raj Bansal, a leading film distributo­r here, said. Echoing similar views, another distributo­r on condition of anonymity, said: “No one would like to be part of controvers­y... So I would not like to buy the distributi­on rights.”

There are around 300 screens in the state and it will be a loss of around ₹5 crore if the film is not released in Rajasthan, sources said.

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