Descendants of Tanaji Malusare take objection to release of movie on Maratha warrior

They have warned of not allowing the film to release unless “objectionable” scenes are removed as depicted in the trailer

The descendants of the Maratha warrior Tanaji Malusare have taken strong exception to scenes in the Ajay Devgn-starrer upcoming film Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior.

Warrior Tanaji Malusare was also the military leader in the army of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. In photo Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. (HT FILE)

Addressing a press conference on Friday, they have warned of not allowing the film to release unless “objectionable” scenes are removed as depicted in the trailer. The descendants hailing from 65 villages in Maharashtra have formed an organisation Subhedar Narveer Tanaji Malusare Sanstha last year. They have also sent a legal notice to the film director Om Raut and actor-producer Devgn. The film is scheduled to be released on January 10, 2020.

The sanstha holds various programmes in memory of Tanaji Malusare.

“We are happy that the history of our ancestor Tanaji Malusare, who fought for Swarajya, is coming on big screen with this big budget film. However, we are concerned about depiction of historical facts as we will not accept falsely stated facts. We have already sent a legal notice to the directors and makers of the film demanding removal of objectionable scenes from the film. We also want the makers to show us the movie before its release,” said Mahesh Malusare, one of the descendants and vice- president of the organisation.

Prasad Malusare, another descendant of the warrior, said, “There is one scene shown in the movie trailer that Tanaji is tied up in iron ropes and talking to Mughal Sardar Udaybhan Rathod, but in history there is no evidence of such incidence. In fact, they both never met until before the war of Kondhana fort. Then there is another scene where it is shown that Tanaji is wearing a bracelet called as ‘Devach Tak’ on his shoulder, whereas in reality there is no such tradition in our family to tie such bracelet. And lastly, we have strong objection on the name of the movie Tanhaji - The Unsung Warrior, as we believe that every person from Maharashtra knows about Tanaji and his bravery. There is a lesson on him in our textbooks, then why it is called as unsung warrior? So our demand to the film-makers is don’t mislead or show unhistorical facts through this movie and show us before releasing it.”

The film is based on the life of warrior Tanaji Malusare who was also the military leader in the army of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.