Padmavati row: A political weapon honed on mythology

In parties with few scaffoldings, incidents like Padmavati help the middle rung leaders hang on to power

 

Padmavati Row : A controversy has been raging over the release of Hindi film, Padmavati. As community leaders oppose its release on the grounds of hurt sentiments, others have offered huge bounties for beheading the filmmaker and the female lead. Various political leaders across states have spoken in favour of the protesters. What is the political motivation behind this support? In this Business Standard Special, Mrinal Pande looks at why Padmavati has been used as a political weapon in the year 2017.

In India today one does not need to ask for history lessons. They come at one all the time from unexpected places, uninvited and longwinded. All castes, clans Gotras and Khaps seem to have discovered their own fantastical historical heroes and villains whom they will proudly whip out and flash to strangers like friends’ selfies as filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali discovered – perhaps too late – in Rajasthan.

For the past eight centuries the blade of Rajput history has been sharpened on the flint of myth and is now a deadly knife that politicians will use shamelessly against films and books based on myths and fairy tales to carve up vote banks and people. Communities, both majority and minority have at least one thing in common; leaders who spare no excess in pursuing violent agendas. In Hindi they have an evocative phrase gadey murdey ukhadana, digging up ancient corpses, for the melodrama over an operatic film about a mythical figure, the Rajput queen, Padmavati.

The astounding ease with which public minds are being inflamed and manipulated by playing upon imagined insults and fears, is facilitated by the very nature of our masses still reeling under economic chaos and endemic joblessness among the young. We, the Indians are prone to take life as it comes: literally and fatalistically.

All the great events in history (wars, revolts, dethronings of tyrants), and in nature (wars, floods, earthquakes) remain to us our unavoidable Karma to which we must adjust. And since we mostly receive, not seek and research history, we become easy game for those who will strike the flints of myths of age old grievances against invaders from the West and light bonfires under the fragile fabric of a state poised for elections.

Click to Know → Padmavati‬ Movie Controversy

Padmavati protest: Why it is a thorn in our flesh and freedom of expression

Khilji defeating Rana Ratan Singh of Chittor in 1303 is a historical fact but there is no evidence of the existence of Padmavati back then

Padmavati Protest : It’s that time of the year again when our sentiments are hurt, and it is acceptable to temporarily suspend liberal democracy because of it. The latest victim of the now-ubiquitous tyranny of hurt sentiments has been Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Padmavati”, which has been accused of twisting historical “facts”. After a series of unfortunate events over the last week pertaining to the movie, which involved a couple of death threats, its makers have been left with no option but to “voluntarily defer” the release date.

Moreover, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab have been happy to oblige the groups issuing death threats and inspiring violence by banning the film from their states. Likewise, Uttar Pradesh has urged a delay in the release of the movie fearing law and order problems. This begs the question whether the onus of law and order lies with the government or the creative community? Should filmmakers limit their freedom of expression and contemplate the law and order consequences of their work?

The situation seems even more ludicrous and bizarre when it is realised that the protagonist of the movie around which the controversy is centred is, in fact, a fictional character based on a half-fantastical epic poem of the 16th century by a Sufi poet. Rani Padmavati makes her first appearance in history in poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi’s “Padmavat”, which narrates a tale of Alauddin Khilji’s siege of Chittor that had happened in the 14th century.

In the poem, Khilji, upon hearing of Padmavati’s beauty, marches towards Chittor to demand her hand in marriage and manages to defeat her husband. But, before he could reach her, Padmavati commits jauhar (self-immolation).

Now, Khilji defeating Rana Ratan Singh of Chittor in 1303 is a historical fact but there is no evidence of the existence of anyone by the name of Padmavati back then. There is also no historical evidence that the desire for a woman played any role in Khilji’s attack on Chittor.

Click to Know → Padmavati Movie Controversy