Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Sunday said people protesting against Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s period drama Padmavati should understand that it is just a movie.
“What you like in a film should be accepted, and what you do not like should be left there,” the minister was quoted as saying by PTI. “I am neither supporting nor opposing the film.”
Naqvi said he liked watching movies and did not attempt to evaluate their history or geography. “I see films as films, and do not get into its history or geography,” he said.
On Sunday, the Mumbai Police arrested 15 members of the Akhand Rajputana Seva Sangh, while members of the Rajput community, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and Rajput Karni Sena held a joint protest in Surat.
Based on Malik Muhammad Jayasi’s epic poem Padmavat, the move film is set to release on December 1. Padmavati, starring Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor, has been in the midst of a controversy since January, when members of the Rajput Karni Sena assaulted director Bhansali on the set of the movie in Jaipur, after which the shoot was shifted to Maharashtra. The Karni Sena has opposed a romantic scene between Rani Padmavati and Alauddin Khilji in the movie, which Bhansali had said was not in the film.
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