When famous Indian film director Sanjay Leela Bhansali was beaten and attacked in Jaipur on the sets of his upcoming movie, among the first few people to emerge in his support and encouragement was filmmaker Karan Johar, who supported the Padmavati filmmaker by taking help of Twitter.
Bhansali’s Padmavati, for which he was in Jaipur, is based on Rani Padmini’s story and was thereby assumed to be tarnishing the name of the Rajput queen. The protestors attacked Bhansali because they were, maybe, told that the movie will portray Deepika Padukone’s Padmini and Ranveer Singh’s Alauddin Khilji love affair in a dream episode.
This piece of information was shrugged off completely by the film’s crew. In fact, the film’s makers and its cast have been obstinate that nothing of the sort was included in the movie. Even Deepika tweeted, “As Padmavati, I can assure you that there is absolutely no distortion of history. Our only endeavour is & has always been to share with the world the story of this courageous & powerful woman in the purest form there is.”
But the protestors didn’t even wait to see if the information was correct or not. They attacked a famous film director over a movie which is not even produced yet, over a script they had no opportunities of getting a hold of.
The main objective of the protesters was not to preserve history, it was to make headlines. The same happened with Karan Johar for giving Fawad Khan, a Pakistani actor, a role in his film. The celebs claimed that their films being shunned and banned don’t just upset them but the team and crew as well.
The issue with bullies is that they don’t know where to draw a line. ”After the attack on Bhansali, the news reports cited a police official as saying that the Padmavati makers have assured that they will not shoot here and will pack up.” So, instead of assuring safety and protection to the crew, the police are asking them to pack-up.
Anurag Kashyap said, “Can once the whole film industry come together and take a stand, and refuse to be a pony that all … ride on??”
”It is time Bollywood stood up for itself, as one body, as a force because as a changemaker the power that Bollywood enjoys is unparalleled.”
