As part of the ongoing agitation against controversial film Padmavati across the country, members of nearly 200 big and small Rajput organisations staged a massive protest here and demanded a ban on Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s upcoming film.
Hundreds of Rajput community members from different parts of Maharashtra descended on the historic Azad Maidan in south Mumbai, where they staged a dharna demanding ban on the film. “The protests will continue till our demand is met,” Rajput community leader Raj Purohit said.
Purohit, who is national President of "Bharatiya Itihas & Sanskriti Rakshak Manch and Rashtriya 36 Kaum Ekta Parishad", said: “The filmmaker has not bothered to holding a screening for Rajput community members despite our repeated demand to that effect. Instead, Bhansali has chosen to show to the film to a handful of media persons which has upset even the Censor Board.”
The protests at the Azad Maidan came a day after Viacom18 Motion Pictures, the studio behind Padmavati, deferred indefinitely the date of release of the controversial film which was earlier slated to hit screens on December 1, 2017.
On his part, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced that his Government would not allow the release of Padmavati in his State.
On its part, the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) sent back the movie Padmavati to the makers without certification on the ground that it did not contain a disclaimer specifying whether it was a work of fiction or a historical, while Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje wrote to I & B Minister Smriti Irani requesting the latter not to allow the release of “Padmavati” without the director making the changes demanded by the aggrieved community
Speaking at the protest rally at the Azad Maidan, Karni Sena founder-chief Lokendrasingh Kalvi said that Madhya Pradesh had already banned the film and demanded the ban on the film be extended to other parts of the country as well.
Karni Sena’s current president Sukhdeo Singh Gogakhedi, Maharashtra Minister Jaikumar Raval, North Indian community leader R. U. Singh and legislator Ram Kadam and many others, speaking on the occasion, came down heavily on Bhansali for distorting history and projecting Rani Padmini in a poor light in the film.