‘Dutch’ Deepika feels India ‘regressing’

Deepika Padukone has decided to step into a minefield: She has lashed out at those protesting against the release of Padmavati, in which she plays the main protagonist. More important, she has muddied the waters by her politically loaded comment that we have "regressed as a nation."

Trust BJP leader Subramanian Swamy to latch onto the comment and come crashing on Padukone like a tonne of coals. Talking to a TV channel, Swamy said that the actor had no right to give a lecture on regression, adding, "I am told the actress is not even an Indian citizen, she's Dutch."

Deepika in her interview to IANS said, "It's appalling, it's absolutely appalling.

What have we gotten ourselves into? And where have we reached as a nation? We have regressed," she said, commenting on the hullabaloo the movie is causing pre-release.

One of the primary objections to the release of the movie is that the Sanjay Leela Bhansali movie - set in the backdrop of the 1303 siege of Chittorgarh by Alauddin Khilji - "distorts" history and shows the Rajput queen and her community in poor light.Deepika dismissed these allegations saying, "As a woman, I feel proud to be a part of this film and to tell this story, which needs to be told. And it needs to be told now." The actor said the final call on the film has to be with the censor board. "The only people we are answerable to is the censor board, and I know and I believe that nothing can stop the release of this film," said Deepika, adding that the film industry's support symbolizes how "this is not about 'Padmavati'... We're fighting a much bigger battle," she said in her interview to IANS.