#WeStandWithSLB Padmavati's set attack is a red flag that reflects how Bollywood’s creative freedom is drying up!

“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules.You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.”

This one is for you Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Before going into any other part of what happened, we need to say - thank you. Thank you for being the crazy misfit who thinks he can change the world. It’s men like you who make history. We aren’t sure, whether to start with lauding your courage or apologising on behalf of a handful of goons who took it upon themselves to safeguard the Rajput culture. For a community that claims to be the most valiant community in India, these men definitely aren’t sound representatives of the culture they gloat about so-darn-proudly. As someone we know, memorably puts it, “It’s hard to not offend when in India…”, the attack on SLB is a testament to how aggressive a certain section of the nation can get when their fragile egos are tampered. But never before, has an attack been this unreasonable. 

Is there a more suitable word to describe the Karni Sainiks than goons? (Besides the obvious expletives…) Maybe not. But they definitely aren’t what Anurag Kashyap calls ‘Hindu extremists’. That’s almost saying that terrorism has a religion, an idea radicals have been fighting ferociously for decades now. The violence comes with no creed or colour. What happened to Bhansali or even Karan Johar during the release of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, is enraging but let’s not fall prey to the pitfalls of anger and suspend our logical thinking mind. Didn’t the 16-year-old Zaira Wasim fall prey to scathing comments by extremists who slandered and abused her on social media for a mere meeting? Clearly, religion is not a factor to extremists who are so blinded and brainwashed by their false ideals that they stop seeing things just the way they are. Zaira, for days after her social media post, stayed indoors. A friend in Srinagar had informed us how her parents refused to open the doors to anyone and kept the phones unplugged or switched off. They were petrified for her safety.

The cited instances bring us to the point that Bollywood is a soft prey for anti-social groups. The goons claimed that they were vandalising the set to protest inappropriate depiction of their history. Pray, how did they know what the film’s script has? In case of Bhansali’s discreet process of work, even the strongest of our sources fail but clearly, the goons have the script with them to know how the facts aren’t ‘correct’ in his film. Guys, open a Bollywood site. You could give us a serious run for our money. But of course, that isn’t easy money. Extortion rocks yeah? Be it in the case of forcing 5 crores out of someone else’s pocket to get them a smooth release in the name of patriotism or now. For a film that’s mounted on a magnanimous budget, the cost of equipment damaged by your silly act of so-called righteousness will be borne by the poor producers, who wouldn’t want any further harm to their passion project. It was a riot, a clear case of pre-planned and organised violence, presumably supported by someone in power, which gave them the audacity to go on with the act.

And with that, let’s understand who gives a certain political group the right to safeguard history. Isn’t history open to interpretation? Facts are facts but there are always two sides of the story. Bhansali, since the time he has announced his film, has called Alauddin Khilji as his anti-hero. Are we so myopic that we won’t allow a revered filmmaker to go about his job without being humiliated multiple times over? And as for Rani Padmini, who symbolises courage and chastity, she won’t exactly be proud of the cowards who are using her name as a pawn in this war of vulnerable egos. Back then, she knew how to take care of herself and even now, the Padminis of the world know how to win their wars all by themselves.

Dear Goons, stop shoving your chauvinism to protect what’s not even yours to protect. As for Bhansali, 12 years ago he had made a play on Padmini which put her on the world map. Let’s not teach him how to do his job. Don’t try to curb his creative freedom or humiliate him for taking the modern Indian generation to a part of history they aren’t well acquainted with. The Government of India, which has bestowed him with National Awards four times over, surely believe the man is competent enough to do his job. Spare Bollywood for a change and find a worthwhile war to wage. In a developing nation like ours, the sidelined issues are aplenty.