Padmavati row: ‘I must say the CBFC is behaving very strangely,’ says Shyam Benegal

‘Padmavati’ is surrounded by a lot of controversies. While we all were hoping that the film will be certified easily and CBFC will be the one supporting the movie, it turned out to be opposite. When the movie was submitted to CBFC, it was sent back as the members stated that the application was incomplete. However, filmmaker Shyam Benegal who had started a committee to recommend improvements in CBFC, feels that CBFC is behaving very strangely with the film.

Benegal said, “I must say the CBFC is behaving very strangely in the matter of ‘Padmavati’. If the film did not carry a disclaimer, it could easily be corrected. Why send the film back? Again it seems very suspicious.”

Further talking about the movie, he said, “I am sorry I can’t comment on ‘Padmavati’. I haven’t seen it, have you? No one has seen it. Yet there are hordes of people objecting to its content. Does that make any sense? I can’t understand how the protest has spread across the nation when hardly anyone has seen the film. How can the protest against a film become so rampant when no one has seen the film, no one knows the content. I am sorry, the protests make no sense, unless we judge them against the current political climate in the country.”

The director says that the protest against the film is a pattern of vote-bank politics. He said, “This is being done to consolidate the Rajput vote. Now, you must understand that the Rajput community is not one homogenised community across the country.”

“The Rajputs of Rajasthan possess a different mindset and cultural inclination as compared with the Rajputs in other parts of India. And even those Rajputs in different regions outside Rajasthan are diverse in their outlook. By raking up the ‘Padmavati’ non-issue, the Karni Sena hopes to homogenise the Rajput community across the country, unite them over an utterly irrelevant crisis. Sadly their ploy seems to be working. If I am from a particular caste and you tell me my cultural heritage is threatened I will naturally react against the threat,” he added.

The director further gave a point that’s very sensible. He said, “Wait for ‘Padmavati’ to release then pass your verdict. What is the point in commenting over a film whose content has not been exposed to the public?”

Directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, ‘Padmavati’ was slated to hit the screens on December 1, 2017, but it has been postponed. (Also Read: Padmavati Row: Aditi, Arjun, Parineeti, Varun question the government’s silence)

Murtuza Iqbal

‘Eat Sleep Bollywood Repeat’ is his life Mantra. Dance is his first love and Rani Mukerji is his eternal crush. He is someone who loves being himself, and as for the ones who don’t agree, his reply? “Talk to my hand!”