Padmaavat Controversy : My Take

The word Padmaavat is enough to evoke strong reactions in the country now. Hence please read the disclaimers before you proceed to read the post.
Disclaimers
1. I have not seen the movie Padmaavat till now. Hence I really don’t know as to what was shown in the film. So I do not want to speak about that.
2. From whatever I have seen in Jodha Akbar and whatever I have heard from my friends regarding Baji Rao – Mastani, I have my doubts about the adjustments that Bhansali makes for his films. So I am not supporting the film as yet.
3. Please do not come to conclusions reading a part of this post. Please read it entirely and then draw your conclusions.

Why am I writing this post ?

It was disturbing to see the images of the kids taking cover when stones were being hurled at their school bus, that’s was the tipping point that made write the post.

Here are my views on this controversy.

1. Should Rajputs have Reservations on Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s movie?
As long as they have not seen the film, yes. Once they watch it they would have the facts. There were a lot of rumors in the air regarding the film and producers, and the director did precious little to assuage the concerns of the people. Bhansali’s past gives us enough reasons to have doubts.

The Rajputs and Karni Sena are justified in having reservations about the film.  Queen Padmavati is the icon of Rajputs an they have every right to stand up for her honor.

Freedom of art is one thing and hurting sentiments is another, anyone can protest in case they believe their sentiments are hurt.

2. Are the current actions of Karni Sena Justified?

Hell no, how the hell can they attack and burn public property in the name of a protest. The state governments have banned the film, the supreme court overturned the ban and cleared the decks for the release of the movie.

Since the judgement was against you and the movie is getting release will you and your ilk burn public property? Will you attack school kids just because of this? Just because you are angry would you go and burn vehicles and property that belongs to other private individuals?

Those famed Rajputs who gave the greats like Akbar and Aurangzeb a run for their lives and money have fallen to this. Is meaningless violence the only way to indulge in a protest? This meaningless violence is called vandalism not protest. Please, please, dear friends, this is not the way to show the angst and anger. By doing this, you are actually playing into the hands of people who want to bring the reputation of Rajputs down.

Those people who created all these disturbances must be brought to book and the strictest possible action must be taken on them.

Now, that brings us to the question as what the states are doing about this.

Are the states doing enough to control this violence

UP is doing well in this regard, we are not hearing much of violent incidents there.  It would have been great had the other governments too followed the suit.  They did the right thing in anticipating the protests, they should have arranged for the force to the control them too.  I think Yogi ji had the predicted things correctly and acted swiftly.  He really deserves the praise.

To Conclude 

If Karni Sena could have channelized the energy and the anger in bringing to light the original version of  the story of the queen.  The controversy has been around for over 12 months now.  This time could have been used productively, They could have brought a mass movement in the youth using the social media.  They could have told the original story using some wonderful Audio Visuals.  We lost that time now.  Even now, I wish that the Karni sena changes its ways and gives the reply to art with another art form.  Most of the country is with them and is giving them their moral support but the very same supporters are not finding find their acts palatable, it is high time the leaders of Karni Sena realize this.

It is important to fight for our heritage but violence during any protest is simply not acceptable.