With a twist of fate, Bhansali’s latest film Padmavati was set to release in the Britain. But will the anti-Padmavati groups stop the release in the UK as well?
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has cleared Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Padmavati’ without any cuts there, prompting the Shree Rajput Karni Sena (SRKS) to declare on Thursday that its members would visit the UK to contest the controversial film’s release.
This came even as makers of Padmavati said they would wait for certification by India’s Central Board of Film Certification before screening the film in any part of the World. Viacom’s clarification followed a clearance, without cuts, to Padmavati, awarded to the film by the BBFC on Thursday. Britain’s film certification body has given Padmavati a 12A rating, which means the film must only be viewed by children above the age of 12, or if they are accompanied by an adult.
Viacom sources said they planned not to release the film anywhere in the world without the requisite clearance from the CBFC. “As the film was suppose to release on December 1, there are over 50 countries where this process (of certification) is on,” a source said.
According to a PTI report, the BBFC describes the film as a “Hindi language epic drama in which a Sultan leads an invasion to capture a Rajput Queen” with a release date specified as December 1, 2017.
Shree Rajput Karni Sena (SRKS) patron Lokendra Singh Kalvi said if required, he would go to England to seek the support of various Hindu groups and NRI organisations and contest the movie’s release. He urged NRIs across the world to boycott ‘Padmavati’ and added that a team of SRKS activists would be present in England before the film’s release.
Kalvi said in Hyderabad he had written to external affairs minister Sushma Swa- Acomplaint was filed in a Lucknow court on Wednesday demanding criminal prosecution against Sanjay Leela Bhansali for showing his controversial film ‘Padmavati’ to three journalists without getting permission from the censor board.
The complainant has demanded prosecution against the journalists as well for watching the film before its clearance by the CBFC. The court of judicial magistrate (iii) has registered the complaint and fixed November 24 as the date for recording the complainant’s statement. It will then decide whether it should take cognizance of the alleged offence. The complaint has been filed by a lawyer. Raj, urging her to use “India’s good diplomatic ties with England in this matter”. “The Indian government cannot pass orders to the British government, but to maintain good relations with India, I hope the British government will honour the sentiments of the people,” he said.
The Rajput Samaj of UK, which has already launched a boycott against ‘Padmavati’, said on Thursday it had written to the BBFC to revoke its certification. The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear on November 28 a fresh plea seeking a direction to makers of the Bollywood film ‘Padmavati’ not to release it outside India on December 1. The bench said that it would hear on Tuesday the plea that alleged that the makers of ‘Padmavati’ misrepresented facts before the court with regard to Censor Board’s approval on releasing songs and the promo. “We will take it up on Tuesday. You (advocate) file a writ petition,” the bench told advocate M L Sharma who mentioned his fresh plea for an urgent hearing. Sharma alleged that grave damage will be done to social harmony if the movie is allowed to be released outside India.
The screening schedule for the second half of the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) from November 25 to 28 was released by the organizers on Thursday, but it did not show any slot for the film ‘S Durga’. The Kerala high court had directed Union information & broadcasting ministry to screen the certified version of the film earlier this week. Film director Sanal Kumar Sasidharan had gone to court after ‘S Durga’ was withdrawn by the ministry under the Indian Panorama section, even as the jury had selected it among the 26 feature films to be shown under the section at IFFI. Festival director Sunit Tandon did not take questions on its screening.
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