Demanding a “complete ban” on Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film “Padmavati”, retitled “Padmavat”, across the country, a Rajput organisation, Shree Rajput Karni Sena,

on Wednesday said here that a mere modification in the disclaimer and the film’s name would not justify the “defamation” of the queen Padmavati.

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Karni Sena threatened that it would impose a “public curfew” in theatres if this movie is released. Sena founder Lokendra Singh Kalvi said his Rajasthan-based organisation would not compromise on the issue with the film-makers.

Karni Sena told reporters, “The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is misleading us by saying that a team of historians reviewed the film while the truth is that not all of the panelists were historians and hence their suggestions cannot be comprehended. Moreover, the CBFC proposed to bring in nine historians in the panel but ended up calling only three. This depicts their lack of seriousness towards our concerns”.
The period film was previously scheduled to be released on 1 December 2017.

But now it seems set for a 25 January release. Kalvi said, “We have heard that it is set to be released on 25 January. If it so happens we will take to the streets and appeal our youths to hold a public curfew at cinema halls.”

He also claimed that six states, including Rajasthan, have announced a ban on the movie. “I will also hold discussions with the Delhi government in this regard.” The movie features Shahid Kapoor, Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone in lead roles.

The CBFC had on 28 December decided to give the film a U/A certification along with some modifications and suggested its title to be changed to “Padmavat” from “Padmavati” to suit the source material, Malik Muhammad Jayasi’s Hindi epic having the same name.