Padmavati row highlights: Kshatriya community, youth will set cinema halls on fire, says BJP’s Suraj Pal Amu

Padmavati row highlights: Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Captain Amarinder Singh, chief ministers of BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh and Congress-ruled Punjab respectively, backed protests against the film and slammed what they called “distortion of history”.

By: Express Web Desk | New Delhi | Updated: November 22, 2017 11:46 am
SC rejects petition to delete objectionable scenes from movie Padmavati Padmavati row highlights: Members of Rashtriya Rajput Karni Sena shout slogans against filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali during a protest demanding for a total ban on the movie “Padmavati’ (PTI file photo)

The controversy and uproar surrounding Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s magnum opus Padmavati shows no sign of abating. The period drama, starring Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor, has been facing protests from various groups, including Shri Rajput Karni Sena, for allegedly tampering with historical facts. Yesterday, the Supreme Court rejected a petition seeking deletion of “objectionable scenes” from the film saying it was yet to be cleared by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

ALSO READ | Padmavati row: SC rejects petition to delete scenes; CM Chouhan says won’t allow film’s release in MP

However, on the same day, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Captain Amarinder Singh, chief ministers of BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh and Congress-ruled Punjab respectively, backed protests against the film and slammed what they called “distortion of history”. However, Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister of TMC-ruled West Bengal, spoke out against the protests and urged the film industry to “come together and protest in one voice” against the “calculated plan of a political party to destroy the freedom to express ourselves”.

The screening of the movie, which was earlier slated for December 1, has already been deferred by a few days.

Padmavati row highlights:

5.52 pm: “I am 200% with the film and director Sanjay Leela Bhansali. I have been asked not to say anything and whatever is the official stand, you will get it from the producers. It’s a very sensitive issue,” said actor Ranveer Singh, who portrays the role of Alauddin Khilji in the film.

5.32 pm: Union Minister Birender Singh said those opposing ‘Padmavati’ should see the film first and then demand cuts if anything is found to be objectionable. “Some of the historic facts may not be in consonance with our thinking….those who are opposing, first they should see the movie. If they find something which hurts them, (they can ask producers to) remove those (parts),” PTI quoted Singh as saying.

4:00 pm: Actor Deepika Padukone , who was all set to attend the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad, has now decided to give the event a miss. The Padmavati actress will not be attending the GES anymore. The GES which will also host Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump as the head of the American contingent at the summit. An official from Telangana government told IANS that Deepika has withdrawn her name from the event.

2:40 pm: Azam Khan also expressed his views on the whole issue. The SP leader said that films have been made about Muslims too but they have never objected because a story can’t ruin their history. “There is objection over story of a film. Famous film Mughal-e-Azam showed Anarkali as Saleem’s mehbooba, when in reality there is no such thing but no Muslim objected because it is a story & Muslims are large-hearted they know a film can’t ruin their history,” ANI quoted him as saying.

2:20 pm: According to ANI, Suraj Pal Amu, BJP’s Haryana media chief, who had announced a bounty of Rs 10 crore on the makers of the film, said that he will run a cleanliness campaign in all the cinema halls across the country. He added that each member of the Kshatriya community and every youngster of India was capable of setting each and every screen ablaze.

2:00 pm: Veteran director Sudir Mishra, who is known to be vocal whenever it comes to taking a stand for the film industry, said that a filmmaker’s right to express is as fundamental as a person’s right to protest. He added that people have a right to express their anguish with anything they might find offensive as India is a democratic nation. “As a industry we stand by each other defending our right to make films. And if any one has any problem with the film they are free to express as we live in a democracy. But you can’t take away my right to express as a filmmaker as well. It is as fundamental as expressing protest and that’s all we are saying,” PTI quoted Mishra as saying.

1:35 pm: Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath has also spoken on the issue and said that if those threatening Bhansali were guilty, the director himself was guilty too of having made the film in the first place. “I feel that if those threatening (actors of the film) are guilty, Bhansali is no less guilty,” ANI quoted him as saying. He added that no one has the right to take law into own hands be it Bhansali or anyone else.  “Bhansali is habitual of playing with public sentiments. The state government has said it would not allow the movie’s release till certain “controversial portions” are removed,” the UP CM was quoted by PTI as saying.

1.25 pm: Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore has also spoken on the issue. “CBFC has been constituted for a reason. Let them do their job,” ANI quoted him as saying.

12.30 pm: “We have made our stand clear on it, have already given it in written to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. The Supreme Court has also clarified that the CBFC should take a decision,” says Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Padmavati, reports ANI.

12.10 pm: Security heightened outside residence of Deepika Padukone in Bengaluru in the wake of controversy over her film ‘Padmavati’.

Security heightened outside Deepika Padukone’s residence in Bengaluru

10.20 am: A person from Gurugram files an FIR against BJP leader Suraj Pal Amu for his comments against Deepika Padukone and Sanjay Leela Bhansal, reports ANI.

Amu was earlier quoted as saying, “I want to congratulate the Meerut youth who announced a Rs 5 crore bounty for beheading Deepika Padukone and Sanjay Leela Bhansali. We will reward those who behead them with Rs 10 crore and also take care of their family’s needs,” he said.

8. 20 am:  Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje had yesterday stated that Padmavati will not be released in the state till necessary changes as per suggestions given to the Centre were incorporated in the film, reports ANI.

7.00 am: Actor Kamal Haasan had yesterday come out in support of actor Deepika Padukone, who has received death threats from right-wing groups for acting in period drama Padmavati.

ALSO READ | Kamal Haasan on Padmavati row: I want Deepika Padukone’s head…saved

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