Padmavati row: Censor Board invites historians, former royals to view the film

Much has been discussed about Sanjay Leela Bhansali's film Padmavati and its impending release, but no clear consensus has been achieved so far. Now the Censor Board has sought the opinion of two veteran historians from Jaipur on the film and invited them to view the film and 

These historians are Professor B.L. Gupta and Prof R.S. Khangarot.

While Gupta is a professor of history in Rajasthan Vishwavidhyala and has written numerous books on India during the medieval period, Khangarot is principal of Agrawal College.

The six-member panel will also have former royals including Vishvaraj Singh of the Mewar royal family. The panel will help CBFC in certifying the film, reports suggest. 

Speaking to a news agency, Khangarot said, said the entire tussle related to the movie is not between the Karni Sena and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, but between him and history and hence "once we watch the film, it will be clear if history has been tampered with or not".

Meanwhile, sources at the Censor board have claimed that Bhansali had created problems for himself and his film when, while submitting his film for reviewing, he claimed that the film was based on certain historical facts. 

But soon after the controversy around the film's release broke out, Bhansali had met a special panel at the capital and stated that the film was based on Jayasi's poem Padmavat. 

The film Padmavati has been embroiled in controversy ever since the film's shooting began. Members of fringe outfit Rajput Karni Sena had attacked filmmaker Bhansali and vandalised the sets in January 2017. They had raised objection against an alleged dream scene featuring Allaudin Khilji and Queen Padmini- which the makers have categorically denied. 

Several royal families in Rajasthan have also raised an objection to the film's content as they feel it dishonours the legacy of Rani Padmavati. 

Many historians have argued that Padmavati is a work of fiction- first appearing in Malik Muhammad Jayasi's poem Padmavat. 

So far five state government has banned the film from being screened in their respective states including Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.