Veteran actor and politician Shatrughan Sinha has hit out against filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali for holding a private screening of Padmavati for select mediapersons even before the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) had certified the film. Sinha was critical of Bhansali at an event where he was honoured by the Rajput Karni Sena, the same fringe group that has been opposing Padmavati tooth and nail.
Speaking at the felicitation ceremony in Patan, Gujarat, Sinha is said to have hit out against Bhansali for not keeping his promise of showing the film to the agitating groups, as reported by India.com. The Kalicharan (1976) actor also questioned why prime minister Narendra Modi and Union minister for information and broadcasting Smriti Irani hadn't spoken on the issue so far.
Ironically, last month, Sinha had questioned the silence of three big stars – Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan — on the matter.
Padmavati producers Viacom18 Motion Pictures had released a video of Bhansali wherein the filmmaker reminded the agitators that there was no dream sequence involving Alauddin Khilji (Ranveer Singh) and Padmavati (Deepika Padukone) in his film.
The producers had also agreed to show the film to the agitating groups once the film was certified by the CBFC. However, without obtaining the censor board certificate, the makers held a private screening for a few TV journalists. This move didn’t go down well with the CBFC. The violent threats that came after forced the makers to delay the release of the film.