Rajasthan conjure up images of the royal ‘Nawaab’, ‘Maharaja’ and warriors, their grand palaces, vintage cars and opulent lifestyle. When we visualise the Maharajas indulging in recreational activities, we’re instantly taken to the vintage polo grounds, where the royals played their matches. Gradually, their ‘idea of recreation’ transferred from polo grounds to the political arena. In time, the royals have mastered the political art. The recent Padmavati controversy in Rajasthan is a utopian example of royal cunningness.
After filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali was assaulted for manipulating historical facts in his historical biopic Padmavati, this time it’s Ajay Devgan, who’s facing the wrath of local ethnic groups for his upcoming movie ‘Baadshaho’. While the entire world is aware of the awkward show put up by Karni Sena (a local Rajput group), very few are familiar with the involvement of the Royal families in annihilating Rajasthan’s image.
Last month, when Karni Sena assaulted Bhansali on the sets of Padmavati in Jaipur, the incident took the entire Bollywood industry by storm. All cultural groups united against the Rajputs for slamming the artists without any solid reason justifying their act. With the involvement of Rajasthan government and Bollywood actors, eventually, the incident was nipped in the bud.
However, a fresh bout of controversies stirred up again a few days later. The royals sided with Karni Sena and slammed Bollywood artists for distorting history in the name of entertainment. While we were still trying to find out the reason behind the ‘late’ outburst, a little birdie exposed the dirty nature of this game.
Our sources told us that the royal family residing in City Palace (Jaipur) charged Rs 2 lakh/day from Bhansali for leasing their property for the shooting. It’s nothing new, since they’d done it earlier in case of Jodha Akbar and countless other movies based on historical plot. After the Karni Sena controversy became a hype in the nation, they apparently feared the rage of the public. If the news got out that the royals invited these filmmakers for shooting in their property, they would’ve been condemned and criticised for compromising with their Rajputana culture.
Seeing no way out, they sided with the Karni Sena group to stay in good books of Rajasthan population. Ironically, the Karni Sena Rajputs were too self-absorbed to realise it and took it as a positive sign that the royals are backing them. With this, they waged a fresh round of war against Bollywood artists.
As the battle between Rajputs and Bollywood continues, the bigger question is where does Rajasthan stand today? Earlier it were local religious groups slamming artists during art exhibitions for nude portraits and now it’s socio-ethnic mobs that attack actors. Sadly, all this has tarnished Rajasthan’s image in the country. We aren’t surprised as to why the artists feel unsafe in Rajasthan now. It’s not the police force or government at fault, but a few alleged groups that hurt the integrity and reputation of Rajasthan for selfish purposes. The irony is that even the keepers of Rajasthan’s respect (that is royal families), are also involved in this act.
