History has myriad intrepretations: Can movies be banned ?

Lots of controversy is brewing up these days over the popular and rather unusually controvertial director, producer’s recent magnus opus,” Padmavti,”played by one time much talked about Badminton player of international fame Prakash Padukone’s daughter and a super hit actress Deepti Padukone and lot is written about it as well including stories making rounds in electronic channels of the country.

Those strictly opposing the screening of this extremely high budgeted film are the Rajputs being led by none other than an undisputed leader of Rajasthan Lokendra Singh Kalvi, founder of KARNI SENA who’ve surprisingly chosen Gujarat as their battle field to counter the director, producer of the film Padmavati, for a mass appeal and congregation of Rajput community demanding complete ban on the movie, making it a do or die issue. But what makes everybody surprised and astonished is the fact is why is it that obstinate and adament leader of the Rajput community Kalvi has chosen Gujarat as the nucleaus of his fight against Bhansali than Mumbai where the director/producer of the film lives and the Bollywood industry, exists.

Everyone is well aware that Gujarat state is on election mode these days and political implications of such events like huge conglomeration of Rajputs in the name of opposing a would be blockbustre film can’t be easily ruled out. On 11 th November more than over one lakh people of Rajput community under the aiges of KARNI SENA assembled in Gujarat and demanded outright ban on Padmavati and filing of the cases under anti national act against its director Bhansali. This is not the first time that Bhansali is facing the ire of the people and some of his previous films too he had initially earned the peoples’ wrath but his films like Baji Rao Mastani was a super duper hit later on.

Those opposing the screening of PADMAVATI accuse Bhansali of twisting the historical facts of 16th century and depicting the role of the most beautiful, brave and ethical legendary queen in extremely poor light as Allauddin Khilji’s beloved , thus denigrating the prestige and dignity of a well respected Rajput queen of a 16th century era, however, outrightly denied by Sanjay Leela as utterly non sense and baseless. According to the Karni Sena founder and the man behind the anti Padmavati agitation Lokendra Sinh Kalvi, the dance sequence that exhibits Queen Padmavati swaying merrily to the beats of the melodious song with her nemesis, marauding, mad with lust Alladdin khilji, the then Sultan of Delhi in the movie has amounted to a direct insult to the dignity of the Rajput Rani as well as the whole Rajput women. However, the director of the movie has denied that such a scene has ever been shot or shown.

The eminent writer Shobha De in one of her articles writes: The point is, commercial movies cannot be equated with documentaries. Movies are movies- vehicles of mass entertainment, not to be confused with an accurate recreation of an event or an era. History itself has countless interpretations.

Anyways, now the mega movie PADMAVATI is set for release and the controversy have added more glare to his movie. What happen’s next is anybody’s guess but one thing is for sure that in this whole game of opposition and criticism both, the director of the film Sanjay Leela Bhansali and the Karni Sena founder Lokendra Sinh Kalvi are likely to win, one by earning money and fame and another politically. Public is the ultimate victim which makes things happen, ultimately.

SUNIL NEGI