Padmavati row: Sanjay Leela Bhansali is welcome to premiere his film in Bengal, says Mamata Banerjee

At a time when a countrywide controversy has been raging against the release of Padmavati, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee invited director of the film Sanjay Leela Bhansali and the entire crew to come over to Bengal for premiering the film and said the state would make special arrangements for its premiere and release.

“If they are unable to release the film in any other state, we are ready to make special arrangements for it in our state. Bengal will be happy and proud to do it. Sanjay Leela Bhansali and his Padmavati team are welcome here,” Mamata said at an event.

The Ranveer Singh-Deepika Padukone starrer period drama, which was supposed to be released on December 1 had been deferred following protests in many parts of the country.

On November 20, Mamata had taken to her twitter handle to lend her support to the makers. ‘The Padmavati controversy is not only unfortunate but also a calculated plan of a political party to destroy the freedom to express ourselves’ and ‘We condemn this super emergency. All in the film industry must come together and protest in one voice’, her tweets read.

On November 22, Chief Minister of poll-bound Gujarat, Vijat Rupani had said that he would not let the film release there.

Prior to him, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje had condemned the film. While Singh said it would not be allowed to release in MP even if it got a censor board certificate as it contained ‘distorted facts’, Adityanath said it hurt Rajput sentiments and Raje protested against ‘objectionable sequences’ of the film.