Producers of "Padmavati" delayed the film's release after a ruling party official offered a large bounty to anyone who "beheaded" its lead star and the director. Hindu nationalists claim the film falsifies history.
"Padmavati" lead actress Deepika Padukone posing before a poster for the filmImage: Getty Images/AFP
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Studio executives on Monday "voluntarily" pushed back the release date for "Padmavati", canceling the planned December 1 debut for the Bollywood's latest historical epic. The move comes after weeks of violent protests and murder threats against people involved with the film.
The new release date would be announced "in due course," the Indian Viacom18 Motion Pictures studio said in a statement on Sunday.
"Padmavati" tells the story of a semi-mythical Hindu queen Padmini of the Rajput warrior cast. According to a 16th century Sufi epic poem, Padmini walked into a funeral pyre to avoid being captured by the Muslim sultan of Delhi, Allaudin Khilji, who was enchanted by her beauty.
The movie enraged Hindu nationalists, however, after rumors surfaced about it featuring a romantic scene between the two medieval rulers. Other reports claim the scene was in fact a dream sequence.
The movie prompted protests in several Indian statesImage: Reuters/A.N. Chinnappa
Protesters burn effigies
A Rajput group dubbed Karni Sena attacked the Bhansali and vandalized a set during filming in the northwest Indian state of Rajasthan in January. Another set was also vandalized in March, with costumes and props set alight.
Earlier this month, the group leaders said that the film's lead actress, Deepika Padukone, should have her nose cut for her involvement in the film. Protesters also burned effigies of both Bhansali and Padukone on the streets, with Mumbai police assigning security detail to both the director and the Bollywood star.
The movie director Sanjay Leela Bhansali has denied the allegations of distorting history.
Politician offers bounty for director and lead
The threats culminated on Sunday with Suraj Pal Amu, a senior official of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from the state of Haryana, offering a bounty against Bhansali and Padukone and threatening to break the legs of Ranveer Singh, the actor who plays Sultan Khilji.
Pal Amu said he would pay 100 million rupees ($1.536 million, €1,304 million) to whomever "beheaded" both Padukone and Bhansali.
The filmmakers released promotional material showing Queen Padmini with her Hindu husband, Raja Rawal Ratan Singh.
Commenting on Pal Amu's statement, another BJP leader, Anil Jain, said that the ruling party does not support the threat. Jain said the BJP asked Pal Amu to explain his comments. At the same time, he added that the party of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not in favor of "Padmavati" being released, according to India's NDTV broadcaster.
The movie has not yet been approved by India's censor board.
The board routinely removes sex scenes from foreign movies showed in India. However, they also ban films deemed offensive to various religious groups, with the movie version of the Dan Brown novel "The Da Vinci Code" prevented from showing in Goa, which has a large Christian population.
Partition of India: The way forward
On August 15, 1947, British India split into two nations - Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan. The two countries continue to be hostile towards each other despite some efforts to improve bilateral ties.
Image: AP
Birth of two nations
In 1947, British India was divided into two countries - India and Pakistan. Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah and his All-India Muslim League party had first demanded autonomy for Muslim-majority areas in the undivided India, and only later a separate country for Muslims. Jinnah believed that Hindus and Muslims could not continue to live together, as they were distinctly different "nations."
Image: picture alliance/dpa/United Archives/WHA
The line of blood
The partition of British India was extremely violent. Following the birth of India and Pakistan, violent communal riots began in many western areas, mostly in Punjab. Historians say that more than a million people died in clashes, and millions more migrated from Indian territory to Pakistan and from the Pakistani side to India.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/AP Images
The 1948 war
India and Pakistan clashed over Kashmir soon after their independence. The Muslim-majority Kashmir region was ruled by a Hindu leader, but Jinnah wanted it to be part of Pakistani territory. Indian and Pakistani troops fought in Kashmir in 1948, with India taking control of most part of the valley, while Pakistan occupied a smaller area. India and Pakistan continue to clash over Kashmir.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/AP Photo/M. Desfor
Like US and Canada?
Liberal historians say that Jinnah and Mahatma Gandhi wanted cordial ties between newly independent states. Jinnah, for instance, believed that ties between India and Pakistan should be similar to those between the US and Canada. But after his death in 1948, his successors followed a collision course with New Delhi.
Image: AP
The 'other'
Indian and Pakistani governments present very different accounts of the partition. While India emphasizes the Indian National Congress' freedom movement against British rulers - with Gandhi as its main architect - Pakistani textbooks focus on a "struggle" against both British and Hindu "oppression." State propaganda in both countries paints each other as an "enemy" that cannot be trusted.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/AP Photo/M. Desfor
Worsening ties
Diplomatic ties between India and Pakistan have remained acrimonious for the past seven decades. The issue of Islamist terrorism has marred relations in the last few years, with New Delhi accusing Islamabad of backing Islamist jihadists to wage a war in India-administered Kashmir. India also blames Pakistan-based groups for launching terror attacks on Indian soil. Islamabad denies these claims.
Image: Picture alliance/AP Photo/D. Yasin
The way forward
Many young people in both India and Pakistan are urging their governments to improve bilateral ties. Islamabad-based documentary filmmaker Wajahat Malik believes the best way for India and Pakistan to develop a closer relationship is through more interaction between their peoples. "Trade and tourism are the way forward for us. When people come together, the states will follow suit," Malik told DW.
