More trouble for Padmavati: After assault on Bhansali, unidentified men set film’s set on fire
Unidentified men vandalised and set fire to Padmavati’s set in Kolkata
A month after director Sanjay Leela Bhansali was attacked on the set of ‘Padmavati’ in Jaipur, the makers suffered yet another setback after a bunch of miscreants set fire to the film’s set in Kolhapur, Maharashtra on Tuesday night.
According to TV reports, the incident took place around 10:30 pm on Tuesday night, when a group of unidentified men entered the set armed with lathis. The group, consisting of around 30 – 40 individuals, then vandalized the set and set it ablaze.
A member of the production team, reports suggest, lodged a police complaint earlier today following which some of the accused were arrested. Details regarding their identities are awaited.
Although no one was reportedly injured in the attack, a few cars parked in the set’s vicinity were damaged. As of writing this, the motive behind vandalising the set is not known.
The incident comes one and a half month after Bhansali was assaulted and the film’s set in Jaipur, Rajasthan was vandalised by an outfit that took objection to an alleged love scene between Queen Padmini and Alauddin Khilji.
The angry protesters, affiliated with Rajput Karni Sena, entered the set before the crew or security could stop them. While some wreaked havoc on the sets, others cornered Bhansali while he was sitting in front of a monitor and gheraoed him.
The mob pulled the 53-year-old director’s hair, slapped and assaulted the defenceless filmmaker before he was pulled out by his team and escorted to safety.
The members of Karni Sena demanded that Bhansali refrain from distorting facts and delete any intimate scenes between Queen Padmini and Alauddin Khilji.
“The film is presenting wrong facts about ‘Padmavati’. Our basic protest is about distortion of historical facts which will not be tolerated,” a Karni Sena activist had said.
After the incident, Bhansali and his team clarified that no such scene existed in the first place and that the film itself was a work of fiction.
Meanwhile, shooting of the Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor-starred Padmavati has been currently put on hold.
