‘PADMAAVAT’ FUSS TURNS UGLY
Cops guard cinemas amid threats by Hindu hardliners
THOUSANDS of police in riot gear guarded cinemas across India yesterday amid threats of violence by Hindu hardliners opposed to the release of a movie about a legendary Hindu queen and a Muslim king.
Some schools near Delhi closed after an attack on a school bus, while distributors in several states said they would not show Padmaavat because of fears of violence.
The Bollywood epic still opened in nearly 5,000 cinemas in the country yesterday under heightened security.
Paramilitary forces and police manned barriers around cinemas here, as well as in Mumbai and other main cities.
Radical groups said the film falsely portrayed Queen Padmavati. The producers vehemently denied the claim, while most historians doubt that Padmavati existed.
Fanatical groups belonging to India’s Rajput caste, who revere Padmavati, have lead protests against the film for nearly a year. They have been supported by other Hindu groups since the film was cleared by the state censor this month.
Dozens of schoolchildren ducked inside a bus that was pelted with stones by anti-Padmaavat protesters in Gurgaon. Another bus was set on fire.
On Tuesday, several hundred people attacked shops, set alight dozens of motorbikes and damaged more than 150 cars across Ahmedabad.
Nearly 250 accused have been arrested over the rampage, Gujarat Home Minister Pradipsinh Jadeja said on Wednesday.
In Mumbai, home of Bollywood, police rounded up 50 people affiliated to a hardline Hindu group after protesters set car tyres ablaze during an angry demonstration on Tuesday.
The film drew few spectators at early morning screenings here as police erected iron barricades outside theatres that did not display promotional posters to avoid backlash.
Opponents claimed the movie featured a romantic liaison between Padmavati and 14th century Muslim ruler Alauddin Khilji despite repeated denials by filmmakers.
The movie’s producers said the film celebrated Rajputs, who were traditionally warriors.
Protesters insisted the movie distorted history, though experts said the queen was a mythical character and that her story was based on a poem written more than a century later.