Padmavati row: Now, Telangana BJP MLA asks 'true patriots, Hindus' to boycott movie
A legislator of BJP from Hyderabad has threatened to burn down theatres in Telangana if they screen Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Padmavati, which is slated to release next month.
T Raja Singh, a member of Telangana assembly, called upon people to boycott the movie, saying as an attempt is being made to denigrate Rajput community. The MLA even announced that he will bail out youth if they are arrested for setting afire the theatres.
Padmavati starring Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh, is slated for release on 1 December.
Singh, himself a Rajput, issued the threat while addressing a meeting of a Rajasthani organisation in Hyderabad. He termed the movie a conspiracy to show Rajputs in poor light by defaming their queens.
The MLA posted on facebook his speech delivered at the meeting on 3 November.
He called Bhansali a "dog" for allegedly portraying Padmavati as a lover of Muslim ruler Alauddin Khilji. He claimed that 16,000 brave women immolated themselves when Chittorgarh fort was attacked. He said the filmmaker had still not responded to the demand from Rajput and Kshatriya organisations that the movie should be shown to them before releasing in theaters.
"If the film depicts history without any distortion and highlights the valour of Rajputs, we will welcome it but if it portrays them in poor light then we will not allow its release in theatres," he said.
The MLA said producers were producing such films to make money as more people were going to theatres to watch them due to the controversies. He said PK earned Rs 500 crore as more people watched it after the protests.
"If you are true patriots and true Hindus, you should boycott such movies. You should not help them make money. If the film flops, no other filmmaker will dare to make such movies," said Singh, who represents Goshamahal constituency and is known for making controversial statements.
Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone in stills from Padmavati
Meanwhile, film distributors in Rajasthan are wary of releasing Padmavati.
"I can talk about my company... We will not like to buy the distribution rights of the film till the controversy is resolved," Raj Bansal, a leading film distributor in Jaipur, told IANS.
Echoing similar views, another distributor on condition of anonymity, said, "No one would like to be part of controversy... So I would not like to buy the distribution rights."
The Sri Rajput Karni Sena, an organisation of the Rajput community and the Sarv Brahmin Mahasabha, a Brahmin community organisation, have decided to oppose the release of the film. According to them, historical facts have been distorted in the film.
"They are trying to defame Padmavati by distorting historical facts. It is not acceptable," an activist of Sri Rajput Karni Sena said.
There are around 300 screens in Rajasthan and it will be a loss of around Rs 5 crore if the film is not released in the state, sources said.
"We are demanding that Bhansali's team should screen the movie for historians and intellectuals before releasing it as was promised by them a few months back. We are apprehensive that historical facts have been distorted in the movie," Vishavbandhu Rathore, Pradesh Mahasachiv, Sri Rajput Karni Sena, told IANS.
In January, activists of Sri Rajput Karni Sena had protested, manhandled and misbehaved with the crew of Padmavati, claiming Bhansali was distorting historical facts in the movie.
The movie sets out to tell the tale of Rani Padmavati - the legendary Mewar queen known as much for her beauty and intelligence as she was for her courage, her husband Maharawal Ratan Singh - a glorious Rajput ruler and a warrior king who fought till his dying breath to defend his kingdom and his wife's honour and Sultan Alauddin Khilji - an ambitious and obsessive invader.
The Sri Rajput Karni Sena, along with other organisations, had called for a Chittorgarh bandh on 3 November. Along with like-minded organisations, the Karni Sena plans to organise a big rally in Gandhinagar in Gujarat on 12 November against the movie.
