The controversy over the release of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmavati grabbed headlines after an attack on the period movie’s sets in January and gained momentum after the trailer release in October. Accusing Bhansali of distorting history through his depiction of Alauddin Khilji’s mythical lust for the fictional queen of Chittor, right-wing groups, led by Rajput Karni Sena, have repeatedly attacked the filmmaker and lead actress Deepika Padukone, even threatening violence against them.
Padmavati is awaiting the clearance of the Central Board of Film Certification, and has been unable to keep its scheduled December 1 release date.
The Padmavati row has muscled its way onto the front pages and dominated primetime television nearly every week, forcing issues as serious as Aadhaar-related deaths and the delaying of the Parliament’s winter session into the background. A new satirical video Jaane Bhi Do Pyaaro wonders whether the controversy is actually a diversion from more worrying problems.
The title is a reference to Kundan Shah’s Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983), in which two photographers unravel a conspiracy hatched by politicians, industrialists and government officials. The video shows a farmer, a woman and two doctors, who, before they can discuss the professional crises facing each of them. get drawn into a discussion over Padmavati on news channels. Mahatma Gandhi too gets caught in the Padmavati web, indicating that nobody is safe.
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