The Padmavati crisis has an ulterior motive: It’s being done to consolidate the Rajput vote, says Shyam Benegal

As the Padmavati crisis escalates, veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal questioned the behaviour of The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and certain politicians.

As the Padmavati crisis escalates, veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal questioned the behaviour of The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and certain politicians.

Padmavati was scheduled for a December 1 release, which has since been postponed.

The filmmaker, who helmed a committee to recommend reforms in the censor board’s working, has strong words of censure for the panel.

“I must say the CBFC is behaving very strangely in the matter of Padmavati. If the film did not carry a disclaimer it could easily be corrected. Why send the film back? Again it seems very suspicious,” said Benegal.

Benegal, who has faced furious backlash in his time for his cinema on socio-cultural equality, is baffled by the extent of the Padmavati uproar.

Demonstrators chant slogans as they protest against the release of the upcoming Bollywood movie Padmavati in Bengaluru,.

“I am sorry I can’t comment on Padmavati.I haven’t seen it, have you? No one has seen it. Yet there are hordes of people objecting to its content. Does that make any sense?I can’t understand how the protest has spread across the nation when hardly anyone has seen the film. How can the protest against a film become so rampant when no one has seen the film, no one knows the content.

“I am sorry, the protests make no sense, unless we judge them against the political current political climate in the country.”

Benegal, whose films like Ankur, Nishant, Manthan focused on the evils of the caste system, sees a pattern of vote-bank politics in the protests against Padmavati.

“This is being done to consolidate the Rajput vote. Now, you must understand that the Rajput community is not one homogenized community across the country,” he said.

Rajput community activists stage a demonstration against the screening of filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali's upcoming film Padmavati. (IANS)

“The Rajputs of Rajasthan possess a different mindset and cultural inclination as compared with the Rajputs in other parts of India. And even those Rajputs in different regions outside Rajasthan are diverse in their outlook.By raking up the ‘Padmavati’ non-issue, the Karni Sena hopes to homogenize the Rajput country across the country, unite them over an utterly irrelevant crisis. Sadly their ploy seems to be working. If I am from a particular caste and you tell me my cultural heritage is threatened I will naturally react against the threat,” he added.

Benegal urges the protesters to get reasonable.

He said: “Wait for Padmavati to release then pass your verdict. What is the point in commenting over a film whose content has not been exposed to the public?”

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