Sanjay Leela Bhansali opens up: The attack was uncalled for

The whole of Bollywood has come together condemning the vandalism and assault that recently happened on the sets of the film ‘Padmavati’ in Jaipur with the crew and filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

The director has finally opened up on the unfortunate incident and said that it was “uncalled for” and extremely damaging to the image of the beautiful city.

The members of the Rajput Karni Sena assaulted Mr Bhansali and alleged that the director was “distorting facts” in the movie which is about Alauddin Khilji’s obsession with Rani Padmavati.

In his statement, the filmmaker said that keeping in mind the safety of the film’s cast and crew, the shooting of the film has been stopped now. “Sanjay Leela Bhansali has shot two films in Jaipur and despite his love for Rajasthan, for the safety of his crew, we have decided to stop the shoot and leave the city post the shocking incident where miscreants damaged property and misbehaved with the crew on the shoot of ‘Padmavati’. SLB has earlier directed the opera ‘Padmavati’, which opened to packed houses in Paris and received glowing response. It was then that he decided to make a film on the courageous queen. We clarify that there is no dream sequence or any objectionable scene between Rani Padmavati and Alauddin Khilji. We have been carefully researching and making the film. In spite of this, the attack on the shoot and crew was uncalled for and was extremely damaging to the image of the beautiful city of Jaipur.”

The statement further thanked the authorities in Jaipur, and said their swift response helped in containing the damages. “We are grateful to the authorities at Jaipur who responded promptly and limited the damage on shoot. We are confident that Mewar will be proud of the film made on their revered queen. We do not want to hurt any sentiments and would appreciate if the local people support us in making this film and making their queen revered by the world.”

We only hope that Bhansali gets justice.