Don’t mix fact with fiction: Historians

Many reputable historians, while expressing their reservations about the film Padmaavat, say that the filmmakers should avoid mixing facts with fiction.

The historians from various parts of the country, who were in the city on Friday to attend a national seminar at University of Rajasthan, said that the film Padmaavat should not have tried to interpret as there is a difference between facts and fiction.

“History and fiction are two different things. Stuff shown in films is fiction. History cannot be shown through films because films are for entertainment while history is for knowledge. 

History should not be turned into fiction while interpretation,” said Dr Balmukund Pandey, secretary, Akhil Bharatiya Itihas Sankalan Yojana.

“Padmaavat filmmakers have played with Indian history with crudely. As a student of history, I oppose it. Such films should not exist. If they claim it to be imaginary, then why Chittor, why the names Ratan Singh and Padmavati? They manipulated our history to demean us and run their businesses. Showcasing a respectable woman dancing in the crowd is manipulation,” Pandey said.

It is to be noted that Sanjay Leela Bhansali, director, Padmaavat, has time and again clarified that the film is an adaptation of the 16th century poem, ‘Padmavat’ written by Malik Muhammad Jayasi.

“It was Jayasi who wrote a novel on Padmavati, and people consider that as history, which is not a fact. History comes from contemporary evidence, and not from later evidence. History is based on solid evidence,” said KG Sharma, head, Department of History and Indian Culture, University of Rajasthan.