The Central Board of Film Certification has issued a UA certificate to Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmavati, according to a series of tweets put out by the ANI news agency. The movie’s title is also likely to be changed to Padmavat.
The historical was screened for the censor board on December 28. The certificate will be issued once the movie’s producers, Bhansali Productions and Viacom18 Motion Pictures, agree to the suggested modifications, the agency said.
A panel including Arvind Singh from Udaipur, Chandramani Singh and KK Singh from Jaipur University, had “insights & also some reservations regarding claimed historical events & socio-cultural aspects which were duly discussed at length”, ANI quoted a CBFC source as having said. Another round of discussions will be held before the certificate is issued, according to reports.
The producers have neither confirmed the news nor issued a statement.
A News18 report suggested that the movie had been given editing suggestions, and will have to run with disclaimers on the practices of sati and the traditional dance ghoomar at the beginning and after the interval.
Bhansali’s adaptation of the sixteenth-century poem Padmavat stars Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor. The historical traces the lust of Delhi Sultanate leader Alauddin Khilji (Singh) for the queen of Chittor, Padmini (Padukone), and the battle of Chittor that is waged between the forces of Khilji and Padmini’s husband, Maharawal Ratan Singh (Kapoor). The movie has been repeatedly attacked by chauvinist Rajput groups, with members of the Rajput Karni Sena vandalising its sets in Rajasthan in January and issuing threats against Bhansali and Padukone.
Padmavati was supposed to have been released in 2D and 3D versions on December 1, but was indefinitely postponed by Viacom18 Motion Pictures after the censor board rejected its initial application for certification on the ground that the application was incomplete. The movie was re-submitted for certification, and was examined by a panel of experts appointed by Prasoon Joshi, CBFC chairperson, to examine claims that it contains historical inaccuracies.
Padmini is widely believed to be a fictional figure, who was interpolated into later accounts of Khilji’s raid of Chittor to justify the kingdom’s defeat. The story has been previously adapted for film and television, including Jaswant Jhaveri’s movie Maharani Padmini (1964) and the television series Chittod Ki Rani Padmini Ka Johur (2009).
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