Bhansali agreed to their demands, but Karni Sena now wants vetting of movie scripts based on history

Karni Sena wants film scripts based on history to be vetted by a group of experts, which will include journalists and historians.

Filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali may have made peace with Karni Sena by accepting their demands to alter the storyline of his upcoming film Padmavati, but his fraternity needs to brace for more engagement with the fringe group.

Founder of the Rajputana Karni Sena, Lokendra Singh Kalvi address a press conference in New Delhi. (Sonu Mehta/HT)

Karni Sena wants film scripts based on history to be vetted by a group of experts, which will include journalists and historians.

Founder of the Sena, Lokendra Singh Kalvi told Hindustan Times that the group will give a representation to the I&B Ministry, demanding that a “pre-screening board” be set up to vet movies with historical themes.

The committee could have a retired judge, two journalists and two historians (from states concerned).

He earlier iterated that films go to the Censor Board after they are made, but for historical films, there should be a pre-production check with groups about whom the films are being made.

In January, the Karni Sena made it to the headlines when it attacked the crew of the Padmavati, including the director Bhansali at the film set in Rajasthan. The group has been demanding that Bhansali scrap any reference to a romantic alliance between Rani Padmavati, whose existence has been disputed by several historians and Khilji.

This was not Karni Sena’s first offensive against film makers.

In 2008, it protested against Ashutosh Gowariker’s Jodhaa Akbar for what it said was inaccurate portrayal of history and later disrupted filmmaker Ekta Kapoor’s session at the Jaipur Literature Festival over her TV series on the same subject.