Sanjay Leela Bhansali has hurt our sentiments, says Karni Sena chief Lokendra Singh Kalvi on Padmavati controversy

Rajput youth organization Shree Rajput Karni Sena has been violently protesting against Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s historical drama, Padmavati ever since the film’s shoot started. The opposition from the group came forth since they believe that the film distorts historical facts and portrays a scene sequence featuring Rani Padmini (Deepika Padukone) and the Alauddin Khilji (Ranveer Singh), something that SLB and even Deepika have denied, time and again.

In a press event held in the New Delhi, Karni Sena's chief Lokendra Singh Kalvi defended their strong stance against Padmavati while clarifying the fact that “freedom of expression” in terms of art cannot be tolerated when the feelings of millions of people are connected to it. He said, “We are not against art, or as a matter of fact, any filmmaker who wants to narrate a period drama. But tampering with historical facts and defaming Rajput glory is something that cannot be ignored. Truth often gets overshadowed by the subjectivity of perception which can mislead generations of audience and result in poor understanding of history””

The issue got blown up when the group not only vandalised the Padmavati sets in Jaipur but also manhandled the filmmaker in January. Talking about it, Kalvi said, "We told Bhansali to  make the film however he wants. Just don't step on Rajasthan's land, because we are there. We exist. But despite the warnings, he came, and he got a slap.” According to the Karni Sena, Bhansali had assured them in writing that he will keep the Rajput organizations in loop during the film’s making and before the film’s final release, but failed to do so.

The Rajput Karni Sena has also been accused that one of their officials declared of cutting Bhansali’s nose, to which he says, “Who has cut Bhansali’s nose. If we actually start going around cutting noses, by now we would have many warehouses filled with cut noses. But you need to understand the sentiment behind saying such things. Our sentiments are hurt. Some historians have questioned whether Rani Padmini even existed. What am I then? Am I a ghost? (He claims to be part of the 37th generation to have directly descended from Rani Padmini and Maharaja Rawal).”

Speaking on the release date being postponed from December 1, he confidently says, “Right now, only 4 states have banned it. I will make it to 14 before the next release date is announced.””

Moreover, Kalvi spoke against SLB’s portrayal of historical characters in the film and says “that the Karni sena has in fact increased Padmavati’s TRP.” He said, “Bhansali has been wrongly portraying characters in his films. In Bajirao Mastani, he showed a warrior, who never lost a war in his life, as a man who destroyed his life over a dancer. With Ram-Leela too, we have 43 cases pending against our officials. With Padmavati too, he is again distorting history.”

On being asked that he’s protesting without seeing the film, he said that he doesn’t need to. He added, “If after Ranveer Singh told a journalist in January that it should be okay if even if one or two intimate scenes are shown with Deepika, a clarification from Bhansali would have come through, we would have considered it to be a childish statement on Ranveer’s part but now after all of it, we are not keen on listening anything.” He concluded by saying that Padmavati, the film, will burn in the flames of jauhar or else it will burn everything.

Well, looking at Karni Sena’s assertion, we wonder if Padmavati, starring Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor in lead roles, will ever be allowed to screen?