Asian Angle | Rage over mythical beauty Padmavati shows ugly side to a new India
Several groups condemn the mythical tale as a distortion of history with some going so far as issuing death threats against the director – despite never having seen the movie
Something strange and bewildering is happening in India and nobody is sure where it will lead. Over the past two weeks, the media landscape has been dominated by the campaign against Padmavati, a Bollywood film which is ready for release – but cannot be shown because of protests.
The film tells the story of Rani Padmavati (also called Padmini) who was the mythical Queen of Chittor in the Indian state of Rajasthan. The story, familiar to every pupil in India, revolves around an attack on Chittor by the ruler of Delhi, Alauddin Khilji.
In most versions of the story, Khilji became obsessed with Padmavati’s legendary beauty and attacked Chittor because he wanted to capture her for his own. Even though he won the battle, he lost out on his ultimate goal after Padmavati committed ritual suicide.
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The retelling of the story is not unusual. It has featured in plays and books through the years and has often been the subject of films. In 1963, the Tamil film Chittoor Rani Padmini told the story. In 1964, a Hindi film, Maharani Padmini, dealt with the same subject. More recently, the Padmini legend was the subject of a television film made by the noted Indian film director Shyam Benegal. In 2009, an entire television series, Chittod ki Rani Padmini Ka Johur, was devoted to the tale.
So what is behind this new anger for such an old tale? It is a question that nobody has been able to answer in a way that is satisfying. A year ago, during the filming in Rajasthan, a little-known organisation called the Karni Sena vandalised the set. This was regarded as a fringe activity and nobody believed mass protests would resurface.
After all, Padmavati is a big-budget production, financed by Viacom 18, a joint venture between the US entertainment giant Viacom and Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man. The film’s director, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, is one of Bollywood’s most respected filmmakers. Padmavati’s stars – Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh – are among India’s top box-office idols.
