Play on Rani Padmini to ‘set record straight’
A 16th-century poem immortalised the legend of Padmavati, and now a modern-day play to set the record straight on the Rajput queen of Chittor.
Kirti Rathore, a 32-year-old fashion designer in Jaipur, wrote the play “Jauhar Rani Padmini” to present what she affirms the true story of the Mewar queen, who’s at the centre of a controversy after Bollywood director Sanjay Leela Bhansali made a movie set on the legendary royal.
“I want to set the record straight and show that the queen did exist and Delhi sultan Alauddin Khilji never saw her, not even on a mirror,” said the amateur playwright on Monday.
The ~150-crore movie is based on Padmavat, a poem written by Sufi poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi about 500 years ago, who gives an account of a Rajput queen of Chittor choosing to kill herself rather than be captured by Muslim ruler Khilji.
Historians are divided over whether the queen ever existed. Many Rajputs believe she did exist and accuse filmmaker Bhansali of portraying her in a bad light.
Rathore met descendants of the Mewar royals in Udaipur with the first draft of her script to avoid what she said historical discrepancies. “I visited Mahendra Singhji, a descendent of the Chittor queen, to get the script vetted by him. I wanted the play to portray the true story of Rani Padmini,” she said.
After the green light from the former Mewar royals, the first show will be held on January 30 at Birla Auditorium.
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