The ongoing controversy about the upcoming movie Padmavati doesn’t seem to come to a halt anytime soon. Amidst the acts of protest by the Rajput Community of Rajasthan, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has expressed his views on the issue on Wednesday. Agreeing to the rising protests, the minister has stated that any act of distorting the History is condemnable.
He also pointed out that Rani Padmini along with other Rajput women performed “Johar” to save the pride of Rajputs. So, any attempt to malign or distort the Historical facts could not be tolerated by the society.
The statement came from Mr. Shekhawat while he was addressing the seminar at the International Conference on “Conservation and Management of Agricultural and Natural Resources” by the Career Point University. In the conference, the minister also talked about the need of developing “agripreneurs” in the country. He said that instead of growing traditional crops, the farmers must be encouraged to cultivate high-value crops.
Another statement concerning the protest has been given by Diya Kumar, the member of erstwhile royal family of Jaipur and BJP Legislator from Sawai Madhopur. She said that the film should be shown to the concerned organization or community to ensure that there is nothing objectionable in the film.
It’s important to note that Rani Padmini is a highly reputed and revered personality, particularly for the Rajputs and hence people are quite adamant to ensure that her character isn’t disrespected in any manner. As per the community, the film contains an “amorous relationship” between Rani Padmavati (played by Deepika Padukone) and Alauddin Khilji (played by Ranveer Singh), which never happened in reality.
Although, film maker Sanjay Bhansali and his team have dismissed such claims, the Rajput community members want the makers to show them the film prior to its release. It’s still not clear if there is any distortion of the facts as the movie hasn’t come out yet.
Meanwhile, the distributors in Rajasthan have decided not to exhibit the movie in theatres which has made it quite clear that the release of the film in the state is still a question mark. If the media reports are to be believed, in case the movie isn’t exhibited in the state, the film is likely to incur a loss worth INR 5 Crores.
