New Delhi: Supreme Court on Thursday paved way for all India release of the controversial film ‘Padmaavat’ by suspending the ban imposed by Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Haryana.
Producers of the film moved to Supreme Court challenging the ban on its screening by four states across the country.
The movie was originally slated to be released on December 1 but due to protests and Censor Board’s interference, it was rescheduled for to January 25.
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Haryana had become the latest state on Tuesday to ban the film citing law and order reasons. All four states are ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Apex Court’s verdict has also put ended Goa Police’s request to Manohar Parrikar-led government to disallow the screening of the movie.
Controversy
Repeated protests and threats of violence by Rajput groups, led by the Rajput Karni Sena, stalled the movie’s release and delayed its certification. The censor board, headed by Prasoon Joshi, appointed a panel of historians to look into the claim that the film contains historical inaccuracies. The movie was finally cleared with a few changes on the condition that Bhansali and Viacom18 Motion Pictures change the title from Padmavati to Padmaavat to align it closer to its source material.
Starring Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor, the historical drama is based on the 16th Century poem of the same name by Malik Muhammad Jaisi. Relying on folklore, legend, history and the imagination, Padmaavat explores Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khilji’s lust for Chittor queen Padmini, which leads to a battle that claims the lives of the queen and her husband, Ratansen.
Padmini is widely thought to be a fictional character and Padmaavat is a romanticised account of the battle in Chittor. The story has been widely adapted for the screen, including by Hindi and Tamil producers and for television, without any incident in the past.