Bollywood director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s period film Padmavati was jinxed from the beginning. Initially, there were vacillations over selecting the lead actress. Aishwarya Rai was to be offered the role but after she backed down Priyanka Chopra was considered and finally Deepika Padukone won the role of Hindu Rajput queen Rani Padmavati.
Then, there were ego clashes between the lead actors Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor. Ranveer plays Sultan Alauddin Khilji while Shahid Kapoor tackles the character of Maharawal Ratan Singh, Padmavati’s husband. There were long-drawn irreconcilable differences between the two super stars demanding equal screen time and there were doubts whether the film project would take off at all.
The shooting began under tight security and the first scene was a dance sequence filmed in a Mumbai studio against the backdrop of elaborate period sets with the participation of hundreds of dancers flown in from Rajasthan.
Bhansali’s extravagant historical spectacle is in a bid to make it the most lavish Bollywood film of all times, much bigger in scale and impact than Rajamouli’s Baahubali, with comparisons to Game of Thrones.
Padukone’s dresses were influenced by Sinhalese designs, as Padmavati was supposed to have hailed from Sri Lanka though nobody could decide for sure whether she is pure fact or fiction. Probably, the princess is a mix of both.
Reports have indicated that Padmavati is based on Padmavat — a “poetic imagery” by Sufi poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi — which, according to him, is not regarded as “historically accurate”.
Bhansali’s Padmavati is a story about a story. It is based on a 16th century literary saga by Jayasi, a romantic fiction about Delhi sultan Alauddin Khilji’s attack on Chittor which itself had occurred over 200 years earlier, in 1303. In this allegorical poem, a Rajput queen of Chittor chooses to immolate herself rather than submit to the sultan.
The poem Padmavat, begins with a fanciful description of the Sinhala kingdom where a princess named Padmavati lived.
Another version says she was the daughter of Gandharv Sen, a king of the Sinhala kingdom, though there are no such name mentioned in Sri Lankan historical records which go back to 5000 years. If the story is true the real name may have got lost in translation.
If Padmavati lived around 12th and 13th century and if she was from Sri Lanka she should be related to a king in Dambadeniya era (1220–1345). But there is no historical evidence to prove the point.
Padmavati is described as an exceptionally beautiful princess of the Sinhala Kingdom. She developed a friendship with a talking parrot named Hiraman. Her father resented the parrot’s closeness to his daughter, and ordered it to be killed but it flew away and was trapped by a bird catcher who sold it to a Brahmin. The Brahmin brought it to Chittor in Rajasthan where the local king Ratan Singh heard the story of the most beautiful woman in the world from the parrot. He came to Sri Lanka with 16,000 followers and married Padmavati and took her back to India along with 16,000 Sinhala women.
Alauddin Khalji, the Sultan of Delhi who also heard about Padmavati’s beauty laid siege againt Chittor to kidnap her. Ratan Singh was killed in a duel with Devpal, the king of Kumbhalner who was also enamoured with Padmavati’s beauty. Before Alauddin Khalji could capture Chittor, Padmavati and her 16,000 companions committed self-immolation to protect their honour. All the ingredients of a Greek love epic!
Some accuse Jayasi of creating myths and some believe that Ratan Singh could have gone to Sri Lanka to bring her. Writer Shyamal Das who wrote in Veer Vinod (Hero’s Delight) in 1900 says Padmini could have been from Sri Lanka as Chittor could have had relations with the country’s Suryavansha rulers. But the Suryavansha Sinhala rulers in Sri Lanka lasted from 437 BCE- 1017 CE during the Kingdom of Anuradhapura much before the Padmavati saga.
Bhansali’s film has caused a national storm with various high profile political factions joining against the release of the film. Several BJP ministers including Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij has joined the anti-Padmavati bandwagon and appealed to the censor board to stall the release of the film.
The minister said ‘Rani Padmavati was the pride of the country and it is appalling to show a princess of such high stature dancing in public,’ referring to the song sequence where the queen dances while being watched by Alauddin Khalji.
“She, along with 16,000 women, had committed self-immolation after Raja Rana Ratan Singh fell in the war. It is an insult to show a princess of such high character dancing in public. It is highly objectionable as it tampers with history,” he said. So this means 16,000 Sinhala women who were taken to India by Ratan Singh killed themselves to protect the honour of an Indian princess. Why this fuss if they were not Indians!
In January, activists of the Karni Sena protested and misbehaved with the crew of Padmavati. Bhansali was physically assaulted as well, according to reports. Equipments were damaged after which the director had to halt the filming.
In March some protestors broke the mirrors in Padmini Palace in Chittorgarh Fort where Alauddin Khilji is believed to have seen Rani Padmavati for a brief moment. Karni Sena claims that the mirror was invented years after Padmavati died and, therefore it is a completely false story.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has written to the Election Commission to postpone the release of Padmavati in order to avoid clashing with the Gujarat Elections, scheduled for December 9 to 14. The film is to be released on December 1.
Maharajkumar Vishvaraj Singh, son of Mahendra Singh Mewar — a descendant of the Chittor dynasty and a former Lok Sabha member — has written a letter, urging the Indian censors to withhold the release of the film “keeping in view the people’s sentiments”.
Industries and commerce and environment minister Vipul Goel is also asking the censors not to release the film as it has ‘distorted facts to glorify Allaudin Khilji’. “Nobody is allowed to distort history and wrongly present facts. This will not be tolerated. The movie has tried to tarnish the image of Rani Padmavati, who is a role model for women. How can they glorify a character like Khilji,” Goel said.
The Indian Film and Television Directors’ Association (IFTDA) on Monday made an appeal to Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, on behalf of four other associations, to allow freedom for filmmakers in the wake of the ongoing controversy over Padmavati.
Actress Sunny Leone in support of Padmavati says on Twitter “If you don’t want to see the movie then don’t buy the tickets.”
Aditi Rao Hydari who plays the role of Ranveer’s wife praises Bhansali “An Indian and an artist we should be proud of… He celebrates our stories, our culture our music. Despite every trial by fire that we put him through… we love you #SanjayLeelaBhansali more power to you.”
“Ten million hearts and counting! Thank you for the love and support”, says actor Shahid Kapoor referring to the number of hits the trailer of the film has recorded up to date.
This is the major controversy affecting the Bollywood film industry after the issue of Pakistani stars acting in Bollywood movies dividing the country into two factions last year. In the Padmavati crisis there is also a Muslim link as Hindus are unwilling to see the Moghals, who are seen as invaders, romancing the Hindu princesses.
The Padmavati film row is hotting up to look like another classic example to show that Indian politicians are unable to distinguish between history and myth. – newstrails.com
