Padmavati release posted ponded not to come out on December 1

Deepika Padukone plays Rani Padmavati in the film.
The release of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmavati has been “voluntarily” deferred, a company spokesperson of the film’s producer and distributor Viacom18 Motion Pictures said on Sunday.

Starring Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor in lead roles, the film has been mired in controversies over conjectures that it “distorts history” and “demeans” Rajput queen Padmavati. The film will not release on its scheduled date on December 1. A new release date will be announced once the “requisite clearances” are in place, said the spokesperson in a statement.

After attacking the sets of the film in January this year, the Karni Sena activists upped the ante against Bhansali’s magnum-opus by staging protests in various parts of the country, including Jaipur, Patna, Lucknow, Allahabad, Bangalore and Bhopal, among other cities. They have also called for a Bharat bandh on December 1, the day the film was originally slated to hit theatres.

The protesters have also declared a bounty of Rs 50 lakh on filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali and the Bajirao Mastani star.

Meanwhile, the CBFC returned Padmavati’s application on Friday saying it was “incomplete”. A source in the board told PTI, “The film was submitted for certification last week. We examined the documents, as we normally do. It was conveyed to the makers that their application was incomplete. They had to rectify and send it back, we will view it when it comes back to us.”

On Friday, a ‘private screening’ was held for select mediapersons and journalists Rajat Sharma and Arnab Goswami have said the film upholds Rajput pride. “Bhansali has not distorted history at all. The story of Ratan Singh and Rani Padmavati has been shown exactly as we heard and read this story in our childhood,” Sharma said on his show. CBFC chief Prasoon Joshi has slammed the private screening and said, “Disappointing that the film Padmavati is being screened for the media and getting reviewed on national channels without CBFC having seen or certified the Film. This compromises the role of systems and balances that are part of a functioning industry. It’s myopic to treat the certification process haphazardly to suit convenience.”

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