Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Saturday said Bollywood film Padmaavat should not be released until the scenes some member of the Rajput community have perceived to be offensive were deleted, PTI reported.
Athawale’s statement comes just days after the Central Board of Film Certification cleared the film for a January 25 release, after asking its makers to cut some scenes.
Athawale said he would meet CBFC chief Prasoon Joshi. “Changing the name of the film from Padmavati is not enough,” the minister of state for social justice and empowerment said. “Till objections of the Rajput community about the film are not cleared, it should not be released.”
On Friday, the Gamdevi Police in Mumbai arrested 132 members of the Karni Sena, for protesting outside the censor board office in Mumbai. The protestors shouted slogans and demanded that the film not be released until they see it and also objected to the UA certificate given to the film.
Meanwhile, the governments of Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh said the film will not be released in their states.
What is the row?
Padmaavat, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, was originally supposed to be released on December 1, but repeated protests and threats of violence by Rajput groups, led by the Rajput Karni Sena, stalled the release and delayed its certification.
The censor board then appointed a panel of historians to look into the claim that the film contains historical inaccuracies. The movie was cleared with a few changes, and on the condition that Bhansali and Viacom18 Motion Pictures change the title to align it closer to its source material.
Starring Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor, the film is based on the 16th century poem of the same name by Malik Muhammad Jaisi.
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