‘Padmavati makers, protesters, media — all are to be blamed’
Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmavati has been mired in controversy after several Rajput groups alleged that history has been distorted in the movie. States such as Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat have called for a ban on the period drama. Both, Bhansali and leading lady Deepika Padukone have received death threats for being associated with the film.
Labelling the whole drama as “nonsense”, actor Manoj Kumar says, “I will blame both the sides. This is nonsense. If the Rajputs feel something is wrong, they should have written to the makers that before releasing the film, kindly show it to us. The producers should have written to them after their objection, that come and see the film, and finish the matter in one hour. This is washing dirty linen in public. To some extent even the media is to be blamed.”
The 80-year-old, who wrote and acted in Shaheed (1965), believes one can take liberty while making a film based on history only when it does not tamper with the facts. “When I started to make films, I started writing about Bhagat Singh. There were some incidents which I had to conceive within the framework. Every film made later on Bhagat Singh featured the scenes which I had conceived... You have to imagine some linking sequences within the framework (of the material). Padmavati was made in Tamil also but nobody objected to it,” he says.
The film was scheduled to release on December 1, but it has been deferred as a certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification is awaited. PTI