Despite all odds, things are falling into place: Deepika Paukone on Padmavati row

Deepika Padukone plays the titular role in Padmavati.

The last few months have been tough for the team of period drama Padmavati. It all began in January when Padmavati director Sanjay Leela Bhansali was slapped and the film’s set in Jaipur was vandalised by a few members of Shri Rajput Karni Sena. Justifying the violence, the group said that it protested against the “wrong facts presented in the film.” It is another thing that the Karni Sena had till then no access to the film’s script and it acted on the basis of rumours.

A series of threats against the film’s release and attacks on the film’s set and later the official poster followed and impacted the film’s promotion to an extent that there was no event to launch the trailer. Padmavati director Sanjay Leela Bhansali has stayed way from the media and the lead cast has maintained that it will not speak on the issue and let the “right authorities take the call.”

Today, the film’s trailer was launched in 3D in Mumbai, and much to the surprise of the mediapersons, Deepika Padukone attended the event. The actor joined the film’s co-producers, Shobha Sant, the CEO of Bhansali Productions, and Ajit Andhare of Viacom 18.

Every direct question to Deepika about Karni Sena was interrupted by the emcee, who said “the queries won’t be answered” as the actor, who plays the titular role, smilingly looked on. It was only towards the end, when a journalist asked her how she “gathered the courage” to promote the film amid protests against its release that Deepika decided to speak something on the issue, albeit indirectly.

Deepika said that because the team’s “creative energies” are in the right place, everything is falling into place. She also believes that Rani Padmavati, whose life the film is based on, has blessed the movie.

“Shobha (Sant) and I were just discussing that her (Rani Padmini) soul is somewhere here. I feel it. I have felt it before as well. There is some energy that is beyond all of us. Despite all the odds and the challenges that we have faced in last six-eight months, we are doing nothing. I promise you. Everything is just falling into place. Our heart is in the right place. Our creative energies are in the right place and everything that we are doing today is just happening organically. It’s happening on its own. I feel like I am living her. She is around blessing the film,” the actor said.

Rani Padmini, a legendary Hindu Rajput queen, is mentioned in Padmavat, an epic poem written by Sufi poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi in 1540. According to Padmavat, she was the wife of Raja Rawal Ratan Singh (played by Shahid Kapoor in the film) in later legends, the Rajput ruler of Mewar.

In 1303, Alauddin Khilji (Ranveer Singh, in the movie), the ruler of the Delhi Sultanate laid siege to the Chittor Fort in Rajasthan. According to Padmavat, Khilji led the invasion motivated by his desire to capture Rani Padmini. Rani Padmini is said to have committed jauhar (self-immolation) along with all the other women of the city to protect their honour.