Post the shocking incident that happened on the Jaipur sets of 'Padmavati', filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali issued a statement clarifying that there is no dream sequence or a scene of romantic nature between Rani Padmini and Alauddin Khilji. In an attempt to put the matter to rest, Bhansali asked for a written confirmation from the Karni Sena and Rajput Sabha that had the following request: ‘moving forward there is no untoward action against our production, crew and cast in lieu of the said issue from members of your association and other Rajput associations’.
The representatives in return assured him to go ahead with the film as long as their agreement stays intact i.e., there’s no distortion of historic facts and absolutely no romantic scene between Rani Padmini and Alauddin Khilji.
This agreement between the two parties seemed to have resolved the matter. However, unfortunately for Bhansali, it seems that the matter is far from over. In a recent interview with a leading tabloid Vijendra Singh Kalyanwat, spokesperson of the Karni Sena, asserted, “The newspaper ‘Rajasthan Patrika’ carried a report that there was a dream sequence in the film, which shows Deepika meeting Ranveer Singh. Now Rani Padmini is not an ordinary woman. She is like a devi in Rajasthan. And you cannot show this devi meeting a terrorist like Alauddin Khilji even in his dreams. Rajputs will never tolerate this. If Bhansali distorts history and shoots the film in Mumbai, we will go there and destroy his sets like we did in Jaipur.”
Talking about what led to the assault on the filmmaker in Jaipur Kalyanwat said, “We wrote many letters to Bhansali's office and expressed our opposition to the film. We wrote that history should not be distorted. We also wrote to the information and broadcasting ministry. On Friday, when we went to meet Bhansali at Jaigarh fort, his guards fired in the air. After the firing, there was a scuffle. Bhansali's bodyguards fired four rounds, following which the situation got out of hand.”
“To my knowledge, 340 films have been shot in Rajasthan in the last 50 years. This includes Hollywood films. The Rajput community has never opposed any film except for two, ‘Jodhaa-Akbar’ and ‘Padmavati’. Rajasthan is known for welcoming guests, but why did these two films get into trouble? They got into trouble because these two filmmakers wanted to create a controversy.” said the spokesperson before signing off.
