After having drawn lots of criticism and flak for playing with history, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmavati seems likely to get released very soon. Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) Chairperson, Prasoon Joshi has made the decision to clear the film with a U/A certificate.
The board had appointed a special panel which included Arvind Singh from Udaipur, Dr Chandramani Singh and Prof KK Singh of Jaipur University to provide perspective to the final decision of the censor board’s official committee. The panel also suggested the director to change the film’s title to ‘Padmavat’ from ‘Padmavati’.
The examining committee of the board, along with the special panel, saw the movie on December 28. The board suggested a few modifications which included changing the depiction of Deepika Padukone to befit the character of a queen in the song Ghoomar and making changes to “incorrect/ misleading” references to historical places. The director was also asked to add a disclaimer that the film did not claim historical accuracy and on the practice of Sati and Ghoomar so as to not “endorse or condone them”.
CBFC board member Vani Tripathi Tikkoo cleared all the misconceptions on the number of cuts and modifications in the film in a tweet saying, “Stop the Misinformation Campaign for God’s sake on #Padmavati. CBFC has not asked for any cuts with the U/A certificate. Its only a few modifications and a title change with the consent of the film maker. It’s finally over, so let the film release and judge it then!”
The movie was initially scheduled to be released on December 1. But the movie was banned in several states such as UP and Gujarat after protests against the Padmavati spread to several cities. But now after getting the clearance with U/A certificate, the wait for the movie will finally come to an end. The movie as a result has also created enough publicity and buzz to attract more audience to the theatre.
