When the dead raise headlines
Here’s a tale of a Villain, and a King and his beautiful Queen. The Villain wanted the Kingdom and the Queen of the kingdom. The King died, to protect his Queen and the Queen died to protect her honor; you know her now as Padmavati. Whose wails can be heard on moonless nights across the walls of the fort she burnt herself in.
It is often said that it matters not if the evidence says otherwise, the heart will always hold dear what it believes to be true. Tooth fairies, Easter bunny, Santa Claus, clean and safe drinking water are a few examples: to the Rajputs of the country, so is Rani Padmavati. An icon, this ancient queen has no presence in any work of history. Yet, to the people of this community, Rani Padmavati is held so dear; she’s almost a Goddess.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali, by creating the movie Padmavathi, has tapped into all the odd old problems of being an Indian. In India, fiction and fact are separated by thin, sometimes an invisible line. While to the Rajputs, Bhansali has made an unforgivable offense, to the rest of India, he has simply made a movie based on a popular myth, by making use of his constitutionally guaranteed Freedom of Expression.
One wonders about the need for a film on this mythical queen. Right from the word- go, there has been uproar by Rajput communities, particularly the Karni Rajput Sena (:sources) . Is it worth hurting the sentiments of an entire community who consider it an affront to make movies with a subject matter that is held so dearly to their hearts? Surely, even the freedom of Expression and creative liberty does not encourage the practice of one’s opinion at the cost of hurting someone else’s?
On the other hand, what about creative liberty, the freedom of speech and expression? Why should controversy of such magnitude be allowed to bloom on a person, who is after all, a mythical figure? The truth, as usual, is many pronged, bizarre, and disappointing.
The first theory is that this is an attention seeking gimmick. The amount of free publicity that Padmavati has garnered, with news headlines every two days and television appearances every day is tremendous. It has also brought to fore groups\ such as the Karni Rajput Sena, who until recently were little known and barely of significance. Popularity is a two- way street, and it does seem like the burden of infamy is being shared by the rebel group as well as the Padmavati family placidly (and certainly to their advantage).
Secondly, why has Mr.Bhansali not screened the movie to the rebel group? Surely, it makes more sense to display the movie to those who are actively protesting against it, and thereby delaying its release? Displaying the movie to media houses will not ensure the release of the movie, it’ll in fact deepen the controversies that surround it.
Thirdly, why are officials who hold important positions in public offices commenting on a film that they’ve not yet watched, before the CBFC has even cleared the film? The movie is yet to be reviewed by the CBFC due to the lack of experienced panellists. Certainly, it is known that the CBFC is the body that has the ultimate voice in this matter?
There has been a large outcry on the Ghoomar song. Rani Padmavati is revered as the woman who made the ultimate sacrifice for the honour of her family. Heena Singh Judeo, daughter-in-law of Dilip Singh Judeo of Chhattisgarh’s former royal family has stated that the ghoomar dance was never performed by a maharani in front of anyone. It is believed that the story of Padmavati has little to do with the romance, but a hard, sad tale of sacrifice. Many fractions of the society are of the opinion that the filmmakers have committed a vital mistake in highlighting the romance in the movie, when it should’ve been about her sacrifice and valour.
It would be naive to ignore the influence of politicians in this controversy. Playing to the public’s sentiments is not a new tune for our politicians. What is surprising is that both, the BJP and the Congress slammed the movie during the recent Gujarat elections. Perhaps, the real battle for Padmavati is being fought in our country’s political arena. The silence of various nationalists, the diplomacy of various media houses are all quite positive, but the roar of the politicians, who are playing for the vote banks of the Rajputs, is deafening.
In the end, Padmavati, whether myth or fact, has woken up many of India’s slumbering giants. While the Rajputs anger at the distortion of ‘historical facts’ is not quite justified, so is the filmmaker’s blunder in fanning the flames to this controversy and hurting the sentiments of an entire community, on the pretext of creative liberty.
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