On his recent appearance at the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival, Vishal Bhardwaj spoke about his discomfort over the sorry state of affairs in the country as related to Padmaavat.
Vishal, who is a film maker himself, is taken aback by the violence of the protests and the subsequent lawlessness in the country. He went on to say, “It is a sad thing that Indian films are getting targeted. The scary part is that the protesters are getting away by taking law and order into their own hands. I hope the state becomes more powerful and acts against these people who are breaking the law even after the Supreme Court’s intervention.”
Vishal posits his dismay over the fact that even after receiving clearance from CBFC, the film is going through so much trouble owing to the hooliganism of a certain section of the society. “Even if a billion people are there out on the streets, when the government, the Supreme Court says it (Padmaavat) isn’t objectionable, we should not give into protests… No one has the right to violent protests. School buses with children are being stoned, what kind of protests are these in the land of Gandhi?” he said.
He used the term ‘chutzpah’ to explain the Padmaavat situation. He said, “What’s been happening for four years now is ‘chutzpah’. If the Supreme Court says release a film, and it is still not released, that’s ‘chutzpah’, isn’t it?”
The Karni Sena has been protesting over the fact that Rani Padmaavati has not been shown in decent light in the movie which may lead to hurting Rajput sentiments. Owing to this, a lot of distributors have refused to screen the movie in theatres. The Multiplex Association that controls over 75% of multiplexes in the country has refused to screen the movie in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Goa which would definitely limit viewership for the movie.
With so much of controversy around the movie, we can only hope that the government controls the situation effectively and the movie does well at the box office.