Padmaavat release | In Mamata Banerjee’s Bengal, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s magnum opus likely to run trouble-free

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s magnum opus Padmaavat, which will hit the theatre screens on January 25, is likely to run trouble-free in West Bengal.

The news comes even as fringe group Karni Sena has vowed to protest against the movie despite a clear go ahead from the Supreme Court. 

Officials of Eastern India Motion Pictures Association (EIMPA) are confident that the film would not have to face any resistance in Bengal. Krishna Narayan Daga, vice president, EIMPA said they did not anticipate any trouble. “We have not planned any precautionary steps because we don’t anticipate any trouble related to Padmaavat in Bengal. There had been some protests at one of the theatres earlier but police here managed the situation quite well,” he told DNA.

On November 19, last year, a group of youths sporting saffron bandana and flags had entered Navina Cinema Hall in south Kolkata chanting slogans against the film and its makers. They were part of a protest procession that had entered the theatre. They had also threatened that they would not let the film to be screened there. 

Gautam Sapui, manager of the theatre, told DNA on January 19 that the police station in the vicinity, has been kept on an alert but he did not think there would be any more trouble. “We have kept the police station informed about the forthcoming release, although we are yet to get a formal permission from the distributor to release the film. I don’t apprehend of any more trouble though,” he said.

The confidence of theatre owners in Bengal is contrary to what Karni Sena chief Lokendra Kalvi’s acerbic reactions. However, when asked about little support in Bengal, Kalvi told DNA over the phone, “We have a lot Karni Sena members there (in Bengal) and even the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is compassionate about our feelings. We have a lot of respect for her. I had been invited to Kolkata by our workers on a few occasions but could not make it owing to different reasons,” he said.

“There is no such plan of agitation as of now. We might decide on January 25 when the film releases,” he added. 

The film was earlier slated to be released on December 1, 2017 but had to be deferred following protests. Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had backed the film. She, in fact, had said that the entire film fraternity should come together to stand by Bhansali. ‘The Padmavati controversy is not only unfortunate but also a calculated plan of a political party to destroy the freedom to express ourselves. We condemn this super emergency. All in the film industry must come together and protest in one voice,’ she had tweeted earlier.