Padmavati Row Is a ‘Groundswell of Conservatism’: Foreign Media

Here’s how foreign media covered the controversies surrounding Deepika Padukone-starrer Padmavati.

The controversy surrounding Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmavati is no longer limited to Indian media’s coverage. The protests against the film, bounty offered for lead actor Deepika Padukone’s head, the state governments ordering a ban on the film even before its release, have made their to foreign media’s headlines.

The period drama, and the real-life drama surrounding it, has been extensively covered by newspapers like Washington Post, Independent, and Gulf News.

Foreign news media organisations widely covered BJP MP Surajpal Ammu’s bounty offer of Rs 10 crore on Deepika and Bhansali’s heads, while also commenting on the incident.

The Washington Post reported that a member of the ruling party offered bounty for “beheading Bollywood’s biggest female star”.

The report added that the reason for the outrage was “puzzling”, as Hindu outrage is "stoked by a little more than rumours”.

Washington Post also opined that the “violent reaction” to Padmavati’s release suggested a “groundswell of conservatism in Modi's India”.

Similarly, the Independent, in its article sourced from news wire service, asserted that the credibility of Indian film industry, labelled as the “ world's most prolific film industry”, was at stake.

The article suggested that Bollywood, which was known to break taboos in the 2000s, with its depiction of live-in relationships and inter-religious romance - specially citing the 2008 historical drama Jodhaa Akbar - has now taken a backseat.

News website Mail Online asserted that while India has made “great economic strides”, the country’s politics has been held hostage by “religion and caste.”

In an opinion piece titled “Padmavati and India’s Culture Vultures,” Gulf News wrote that “presumption, rumour, hearsay and a majoritarian dumbing down” has taken centrestage in India.

Calling the controversy an “usurpation of intellectual space,” the article opines:

The least that a progressive society — that encourages a free-thinking, unbiased and independent artistic consciousness to flourish — would do under the circumstances is to allow the work in question to be viewed by the public, before one assumes the role of judge, jury and executioner.

Following the various controversies surrounding the film, the makers have decided to delay the release of the film, which was scheduled to release on 1 December.

The Central Board of Film Certification in India has also rejeced the film’s certification, citing incomplete documentation.

(With inputs from Washington Post, Daily Mail, Independent and Gulf News)

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