Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmavati featuring Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh, and Shahid Kapoor, has been facing the wrath of various political leaders and Rajput groups as they have accused director Bhansali of distorting history. Both Bhansali and Deepika Padukone who is portraying the character of Padmavati have been threatened with severe consequences by the same people too.
However, if you thought only Padmavati was facing such controversies, then you thought wrong! Earlier too another one of Bhansali’s historical film Bajirao Mastani was wrapped in controversy though not to the extent of Padmavati, but the film was banned in Pakistan for being “anti-Islamic” and also in Pune as they claimed that the film distorted historical facts.
Bhansali is not the only filmmaker who has had to face the flak, there are more historical films that have met with a similar fate, such as; the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Ashoka, which was based on emperor Ashoka and the famous battle of Kalinga and several political torchbearers of Odisha alleged that the director took too many cinematic liberties and they questioned the legitimacy of his storyline.
Similarly, Jodhaa-Akbar based on the life of Akbar was never released in Rajasthan because the Rajputs debated that Jodhaa was married to Akbar’s son, Salim, while the film shows Jodhaa as Akbar’s wife. They also alleged that some facts in the film were historically incorrect. The film was also banned in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Haryana.
While a petition was filed in the High Court against the film Mangal Pandey – The Rising for portraying Mangal Pandey in a bad light in the film. The BJP demanded a ban on the film saying the film indulges in character assassination.
Some other historical films like Gandhi based on the life of Mahatma Gandhi and The Legend of Bhagat Singh and Shaheed both based on the life of the freedom fighter Bhagat Singh all have faced controversies.
Whether it was a protest by followers of the historical figures or political parties, most of the historical films have had to face a lot of controversies and hurdles before their release. Which leads us to wonder if the filmmakers will slowly shy away from making films based on history or historical characters.
Speaking on the same, Bengali film actor, Prosenjit Chatterjee said, “The Padmavati controversy may discourage filmmakers from taking up projects on historical subjects.” Well, if that happens then most of our current generation might never see some of the favorite characters from their history books come alive! That would be sad, wouldn’t it?
HFT also spoke to actress Ishita Dutta who will be seen in a period drama about the same and this is what she had to say, “I know that the right people are working towards the right decision on the film but what I would like to say is that any film that is made takes a lot of effort. A lot of hard work goes into the making of a film, so I am sure they will make a fair judgment.”
Chief Programming Officer, Inox Leisure Limited, Rajendra Singh Jyala spoke exclusively to HFT too. He said that the delay in the release of Padmavati is a loss not just for the producers of the film but the entire chain from distributors, to cinema owners, the exhibitors, and the entire film industry. “Earlier too there have been instances where people have vandalized our property and it’s sad,” he said
He further added, “My opinion is that no one should have an objection once the film has been passed by the censor board. The very reason why we have a censor board is to decide whether the film is fit to be screened or not. They are a group of very responsible people who know their job. Once they have given the go-ahead then there should be no controversies.”
Well if the censor board still had people like Pehlaj Nihalani, I would think otherwise but now that the office has changed, we know they are responsible enough and know their job and we couldn’t agree more with Jyala!
