SLB releases official statement by team post Padmavati slapgate

Mumbai: After being beaten up on the sets of his upcoming magnum opus 'Padmavati' in Rajasthan by the Rajput Karni Sena over alleged distortion of historic facts, Bollywood had unanimously critiqued and voiced their umbrage over the bullying that Sanjay Leela Bhansali was subjected to.

The director's primary protagonists, Shahid Kapoor, Deepika Padukone and Shahid Kapoor had also come out and voiced their opinion on it.

However, Bhansali had chosen to remain mum on the issue.

His official spokesperson has finally released a statement on his behalf, in the wake of the widespread support from within the industry and outside, and the political party's refusal to apologise.

"Sanjay Leela Bhansali has shot two films in Jaipur and despite his love for Rajasthan, for the safety of his crew, we have decided to stop the shoot and leave the city post the shocking incident where miscreants damaged property and misbehaved with the crew on the shoot of 'Padmavati'. SLB had directed the opera 'Padmavati' to packed houses in Paris and earned worldwide praise for it. He was inspired by the beautiful and courageous queen and is making a feature film on the story. We clarify that there is no dream sequence or any objectionable scene between Rani Padmavati and Alauddin Khilji. We have been carefully researching and making the film. In spite of this, the attack on the shoot and crew was uncalled for and was extremely damaging to the image of the beautiful city of Jaipur. We are grateful to the authorities at Jaipur who responded promptly and limited the damage on shoot. We are confident that Mewar will be proud of the film made on their revered queen. We do not want to hurt any sentiments and would appreciate if the local people support us in making this film and making their queen revered by the world," reads the statement.

"We had warned the filmmaker against presenting wrong facts. When we came to know about the shooting, we gathered there and protested," district president of Karni Sena Narayan Singh had said.

"The incident that took place yesterday on the sets of Padmavati is shocking; Sanjay Leela Bhansali is a veteran with an acclaimed body of work. We stand by him and our film which is a celebration of the Rani and what she represented. We truly don't wish to hurt the sentiments of any person or community. We didn’t expect this," said Ajit Andhare, COO of Viacom18 Motion Pictures.

'Padmavati' is set for a Diwali 2017 release.