Sanjay Leela Bhansali was assaulted on the sets of Padmavati on Friday by members of fringe group Karni Sena, after they staged a protest at the Jaigarh fort in Jaipur where Bhansali was shooting for the film. In a video making the rounds of social media, the members vandalised the set, damaged cameras and shouted filthy abuses.
According to reports, their main point of contention is how the celebrated Rajput queen, Padmavati is being shown in the film. “The film is presenting wrong facts about Padmavati. Our basic protest is about distortion of historic facts which will not be tolerated,” Vikram Singh, a Karni Sena activist said.
The film, reportedly, has a love scene between Queen Padmavati and ruler Alauddin Khilji, played by actors Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh.
According to the report, the Karni Sena says that the queen gave her life rather than submitting to Alauddin, the emperor who stormed the fort.
Deepika plays queen Padmavati opposite Shahid Kapoor’s Ratan Singh. With this film, Bhansali returns to period drama after the success of Bajirao Mastani.
Bollywood Backs Bhansali
Several Bollywood stalwarts took to Twitter to condemn the incident and extend their solidarity with Bhansali.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)