While the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) takes its time over the censor certification of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s trouble-ridden Padmavati, news from reliable sources at the CBFC is that, the main concern for the Board is not the controversies and the objections raised by fringe protesters, but the ritualistic practice of jauhar whereby women are shown to immolate themselves to preserve their decorum and virtue.
Says a source from the CBFC,
“We are not really concerned about the protests regarding the dream sequence featuring Deepika’s and Ranveer’s characters. We are pretty sure it is not there. Nor are we thinking about the Ghoomar dance which some of the saner elements of protest have objected to. No, our main area of worry is the climactic jauhar sequence. We feel it will cause a lot of problems”.
In the climax, Rani Padmini (Deepika Padukone) and scores of her followers are shown to jump into a raging pyre to escape the invasion by Alluddin Khilji (Ranveer Singh).
“We feel women’s organizations would take strong objection to the self-immolation. They might see this as another form of Sati, a practice that is constitutionally banned in the country. Jauhar is a very different practice from Sati. The latter was a cruel and often enforced way for women to end their lives after their husbands’ death. The former is a voluntary practice implemented as a means of protest when women refused to suffer injustice”.Source from CBFC
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