Panaji: National award-winning filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar on Thursday said the controversy surrounding Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmavati is not something Indian film industry has never faced before as during the release of Indu Sarkar he too had to go through the similar situation alone.
Bhandarkar, the director of critically acclaimed films such as Page 3, Traffic Signal and Fashion, said when Indu Sarkar was mired in controversy over its political flavour, no one came to support him and he fought the entire battle alone.
“When you make a film, there’s always a fear that political parties might do something. Such kind of things have happened in the past as well. We named the film 'Indu Sarkar' and said it was set in the times of Emergency. There were a lot of controversies and it was said the film was sponsored and that it should be banned. The same thing is happening with Bhansali," Bhandarkar said on the sidelines of the ongoing 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI).
"I was alone in fighting the battle with my team from the Supreme Court, the High Court to the censor board. I thought those people who talk about freedom of expression would come and support me, but there was no support. This has been happening for some time now. It’s not a new thing,” Bhandarkar added.
The filmmaker believes that in current times it has become extremely difficult to make a film based on history or politics as someone or the other would definitely go against it.
“No matter what government is in power, these things will happen. During Indu Sarkar, the censor (board) told me, ‘You call the movie fiction’. So I added a big disclaimer. But if you say that it is a true story about history and politics, then it’s a big problem. You cannot make it. Somebody will come and file a petition to stop the release of the film," he said.
However, Bhandarkar said if CBFC clears the film then “no one should have an objection and the movie should be released, whether it’s Padmavati (now Padmaavat) or any other film”.
(The article was first published on November 24, 2017)
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