Sanjay Bhansali wraps up Padmavati shoot after assault, to return to Mumbai

Filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali and his crew have cancelled the shooting for his film Padmavati after a fringe group vandalised the sets in Jaipur on Friday for allegedly “distorting history” about Chittor queen Rani Padmini and 14th century emperor Alauddin Khilji.

Bhansali was slapped and assaulted by Rajput Karni Sena workers who staged a protest at Jaigarh fort in Jaipur where he was shooting the film.

According to TV reports, the National Award-winning director is set to return to Mumbai.

In a video that has gone viral, protesters are seen running amok, damaging cameras and other shooting equipment while raising slogans and spewing abuses in Hindi.

They alleged that the film has love scenes between Rani Padmini and Alauddin Khilji, played by actors Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh.

The incident triggered outrage and drew condemnation from the Bollywood fraternity, which sought to take a stand, even as the Rajput Karni Sena on Saturday defended its action.

Speaking to ANI in Jaipur, founder-patron of the fringe group, Lokendra Singh Kalvi asserted that if history and traditions are not respected then nothing but doom awaits them.

He said Bhansali was to blame for the attack as the Sena was provoked by the film crew and threatened with gun shots. He even demanded a probe on gunshots being fired and permissions to shoot the film.

The Karni Sena claimed that Padmini was a proud queen who took her own life rather than submitting to Khilji, who attacked the Chittorgarh Fort.

Kalvi also dared Bhansali to make a film against Hitler in Germany.

“Does Bhansali have the nerve to go to Germany and make a fiction film against Hitler? Even when Jodha Akbar was being made I had raised objections as one cannot insult our blood-spattered history,” he said.

Follow @htshowbiz for more