Irate BJP activists on Friday forced the management of Pune’s leading multiplex “City Pride” to cancel as many as five shows of Sanjay leela Bhansali’s Bajirao Mastani on the first day of its release in protest against of the “distortion” of history involving the Peshwas.
Upset with the “disparaging” “and “distorting” manner in which late King Bajirao and his wives Kashibai and Mastani have been portrayed in the film, hundreds of BJP workers staged protests in front of the “City Pride” in protest against the factual inaccuracies in the story presented in the film.
Having gathered in front of “City Pride” multiplex as early as 8 am on Friday, the protesters tore the posters of the film and forced the multiplex owner to cancel all the five shows of the film scheduled for the day.
“The film is an insult to Peshwa Bajirao I and the song Pingaa Pingaa is offensive to Marathi culture and degrading to a Marathi lady,” Pune’s BJP vice president Jayawant Bhave said.
Bhave alleged that the film had trivialised history of Peshwas “by giving scant importance to the weighty political matters of its day and turning the picture into a ludicrous soap opera replete with tasteless song-and-dance numbers”.
“The Bajirao Peshwe-I never had the time to fiddle with his hair locks and dance in public as depicted in the film. Similarly, the depiction of his wife, Kashibai portrayed by actress Priyanka Chopra is in a poor taste,” Bhave said
The descendents of Peshwes are also miffed with a song in “Bajirao Mastani” picturised on Kashibai and Mastani, the wives of Shrimant Bajirao Peshwe I, a general who served as the Maratha Peshwa (Prime Minister). Mastani is a mistress-turned-second wife of Bajirao.
Peshwe I’s descendent Prasadrao Peshwe wrote a letter to Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday, demanding that the government review the film, investigate the “distortion of historical facts” in
the decision and take a decision accordingly.
Prasadrao said he was an ordinary citizen and wrote to the Chief Minister after watching the teasers and promos of the upcoming film. “It has been found out that the said cinema in the name of cinematic liberty has altered original history. So also, a song has been picturised on the wives of Shrimant Bajirao Peshwe I, Kashibai and Mastani. This incident is not keeping in-line with the history,” he alleged.
“Moreover, the ‘Pinga’ dance form is an integral part of Marathi culture and has been transformed into an ‘item song’ and the costumes and dance direction are on that lines,” he further alleged.
Prasadrao said the warrior king Shrimant Bajirao Peshwe and the overall legacy of Peshwas was a matter of Maharashtrian pride. “The historical personalities are always a matter of respect. The picturisation of the film “Bajirao Mastani”, the historical references of the period and story appear to be perverted”.
Meanwhile, the BJP’s ruling alliance partner Shiv Sena did not join the protests staged by the BJP in Pune.