After its campaign against Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmaavat (2018) in the name of Rajput pride, the Shri Rajput Karni Sena has now joined the opposition to Kangana Ranaut’s Manikarnika: The Queen Of Jhansi.
A day after another communal group called the Sarva Brahmin Mahasabha raised its voice against the film, claiming that it includes a love affair between the legendary Rani Lakshmibai and a British officer, the Karni Sena lent support to the cause.
"Agar Brahmin ka khoon bahega to Rajput kya chup rahega, jab Rajput ka khoon baha to Brahmin kabhi chup nahi raha [Rajputs will never keep quiet if Brahmins are affected, and vice-versa]," Karni Sena president Lokendra Singh Kalvi told the IANS news agency.
Kalvi claimed that 10,000 letters were signed in blood by Brahmins to protest against the release of Padmaavat.
Meanwhile, the film's scriptwriter, KV Vijayendra Prasad, father of filmmaker SS Rajamouli and writer of the two Baahubali blockbusters, expressed shock at the rumour floating around.
“I am an ardent fan of Rani Lakshmibai," Vijayendra Prasad told Cinestaan.com on telephone. "She was born Manikarnika and became Rani Lakshmibai after marriage. I named my daughter Manikarnika. If I am narrating her story, do you think I could do something bad? It is impossible!
“There is nothing like that in the story," he continued. "Except with her husband, she has no such [love] scenes with anybody else. She met the white people only during the war or on matters pertaining to the welfare of the state. All these rumours are hearsay. I don’t know who has created this scandal. What is there in the film is based purely on historical facts.”
Manikarnika: The Queen Of Jhansi is scheduled to be released on 27 April.