Spanning creasing lake active in the past week but one hundred thousand people who live in the danger zone have been told to move to Emergency Centers we will keep following that those are the headlines of news continues on aljazeera after the strain keep it or. With every. Hi im femi oke a and youre in the stream im really could be today protests and threats have halted the release of the bollywood film. So what is the film about why is it upset taking so many people you about to find out. The hindi film is swirling in control the sea so much so that its release in india has been postponed and his International Debut left on certain the film set in the fourteenth century tells the story of a Muslim Soltan who attacks a kingdom in an attempt to capture a beautiful hindu queen critics say the film disrespects the sentiments of the raj put cost and while some members of the raj put community have taken to the streets to protest others have chosen more file and methods and despite historians pointing out that the queen portrayed in the film is a fictional character some rush what groups have been using their Political Capital to block the movie which in turn is raising concerns about growing censorship in india were here to talk about this we have in mumbai raj a film critic and author and should i independent filmmaker actor and activist the question of the fund our new delhi job hes an associate professor of history at the university of delhi whose background is in hindi literature of medieval india and in the United States sunday saying president of the rajput association of north america hello everybody good to see you. I know you havent seen the film yet most of india hasnt seen the film yet was a Vital National audience havent seen it yet so let me show you a little clip its a doll its number that was released early its called guma have a look have a listen. Roger this film looks funny i mean weve only got about six minutes of it to go on but so far it looks amazing what is the main reason that this is a huge conversation in india right now. Well i think india is very quick to outrage about pretty much anything at this point of time. You know there are all these Fringe Groups that come in and claim pretty much anything being done in the Public Domain hurts their sentiments and since this is hard to quantify and since the reigning government is not really doing anything well theyre outraged these people are becoming more and more dangerous at this point. Based on as you said a fictional queen various Fringe Groups are saying that the queen is being disrespected in the spill and they want the filmmakers head on a platter they have announced bounties on the actresses nose and this is the leading mans legs should be broken and this is all being said while the government isnt doing nothing about it in fact ministers from the reigning party the b j p have actually gone on record to say these things somehow rather totally totally wrong that this is a fictional character we have a history supporting it and let me tell you we made the history by making sacrifices of our lives by bleeding and now movie makers and critics like you come in sitting and allies and things that this is the fringe group you cannot live with the sentiments of the people there is a will to handle these things mr bhansali should have consulted when he did promise that hes going to at least scream with the company say well this should have been some understanding instead what he chose he chose to get from journalist without our involvement and let me tell you it is not about ronnie patni it is about women their their. Respect and justice to the women crime we cant we cant let around we so much respected in a community and and not respect her and go to fight. Allowed him. When i compared him to one of the littlest just like nine eleven terrorists you really fired them under the us. Mr miller interrupt you. Ive been listening to both roger and you i must add that first to graduate i dont think its arbitrary who gets hurt and who gets outraised pretty much by everything no there is a pattern to it and as a student of history i see this pattern rather. Disc its pretty disconcerting because you would notice that actually. The more powerful a community the more easily they get hurt and the more easily they get hurt and outrage to be heard now lets get this clear at the outset that were here discussing and trying to defend what might turn out to be a second rate trail in spite of all the excitement that the controversy has generated but lets also get this clear that. You know here is our full as mr sanjay singh made clear here is a very powerful minority which is actually talking about you know protesting the film in the name of the idea that mini is a historical character now you know in in the context of medieval Indian History there is so much that it goes low that one can never be sure about who is historical and who is fictional but one does know what but many has the queen but many has come to stand in far as far as the raj would come in india and what you know as far as the other communities are concerned and the most interesting thing is im glad mr pointed it out in the very beginning that they are protesting in the name of the owner of them and now im a little amused. Because it would be a truism and understatement to see the medieval india that the medieval indian communities and well even more. Would be. And i hear your point there and i see. Smiling there is a woman on this panel but i want to bring in two comments and then go to one person might agree with son jay who spoke a little earlier this is on twitter who said our culture our faiths our beliefs emotions our history cannot be denied distorted dramatize or played with filmmakers can very well make money and be creative about something but this is a point from someone else this is some ansari on twitter and she says she talks up to hindu nationalists she says the way their minds work theyre unable to differentiate between reality and myth they see padmavati as a for sonification of core hindu beliefs which add some value to her fictitious character and violate those things are violated when a non hindu emperor approaches her but russian to be as other people have pointed out this seeing that people are upset about an approach or a romantic scene some have alleged is not actually even the film. Yeah it is not and out it seems. A bit amusing in the sense that in india we celebrate hypocrisy and i had any quite a bit so im the one saying we glorify cows and on the other side we claim theyre meant to be gods and goddesses and at the same time of the same state as artists than there is a. Last recorded day that was in the two thousand two thousand and fifteen the amount of the lives of the of them in a way up to beyond two thousand so this was just an act one year so i think you understand the outrage about wanting to maintain the modesty of a woman being the modus operandi of the practice it seems a bit amusing to me if not. I dont know this illusion. And also to add to the fact that the whole lot of the geisha not running but mom of the being the fact that she was test and that she killed herself in the end in order to safeguard her chastity and all of that seems in two thousand and seventeen quite a bit about twenty situation to outrage about to be honest let me just let anyone say so please continue instead of just having let me when i say i have a definition and its. Not if its yes or no how no one else i where on the one say we are denied. You know basic rights human rights or you know right to abortion where imagine rape is still not made illegal where child rapists on the writings and on this issue spencer and the state of florida stand quite a bit i find it very disconcerting that just because this particular community you are finding this to be a question only issue and getting this to be a matter of concern in a way that the state isnt appearing with the art and culture that was the country i take it not because it should be two different entities i let me just play a guess a little clip and this is from the director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and he was ready for the criticism and also looked like he had anticipated it as he was making a film have a listen to what he had to say im going through a course in the discipline i. Put mine on with the other Kaakha Kaakha what about if it is made out of your money from me let me put not what they were not include you could be or you dream sequence me assessing you to pieces will be believed. And never. So sunday right is fascinating here is that the reason that this is blown up so much is because there was a local member of the b j p s a Political Party the major ruling party in india who said i am so upset im offering the equivalent of one point five Million Dollars for the head of the director and the lead actress in this film. What kind of situation could you justify that even being said in public sunday. To comment. You do sponsible mistreatment and. Complaining german self immolation that we are highly respect is the is the illusion that i would not be able. To. I guess let me just let me just interject in saying the reason reason why i lean against any idea on burning herself when her husband dies is because that is spoiler alert what happened to create me. Let me just move on a little bit leave where you want to take us awhile you mention the threat surfer read on twitter says for peace to reign please they should stop promoting this movie immediately theyve already threatened to burn down any center that shows the film and theres a bounty on the head of a lead actress as you mentioned to me though the person who made that bounty now denies that he said that but i actually want to go to a video comment from someone who says all of these threats all of these comments could have been avoided. All the protests and other things that have been said and done could have been easily avoided if the producer director had to come forward and at the very beginning treatment separate constraint would have kind of hunkered down but the other thing is that when it comes to artistic liberty or prevent it all pretty complained about it coming in from the amount of responsibility which i think the producer directed me to keep in mind point hes making a movie based on a historical account roger what do you make of that or well i think i believe this is a big misconception i think everyones going on about how mr bhansali should have clarified it was just and just said why did you show it was was considering it to a couple of journalists but the fact of the matter is mr buckley does not will these people are screaming this point a Strange Group which is trying to which is jenny to be violent and gun down cinemas does not you know is not someone we should be as filmmakers or as a community we should be negotiating with and this is you should not negotiate with terrorists this is exactly the same situation just because these people are threatening the stronger the situation does not mean we all dont you know any sort of pacification question i think what we know that sega had. Yeah i was just going to add to what i just said the state must not interfere with the actual culture of the country because historically india has been pretty upfront about our question in condemning. Political situation or anything anything that is a matter of france and right now on the National Media being the most powerful medium which they just look the same time internationally to put it on something because it concerns a small section of. This country itll make a landing because its not just as a matter of you putting a check on me and i guess you getting a check on me i say that as a democrat yes i dont agree but then vest no we dont need to because we have more going for pacifica but we have a right to protest youre looking for anything about another. Thing that we dont do i condemn those kind of a statement. And being a member of. Mathematica i want to also trying all the members who are listening to us and i would also like them to. Own the rights. And rule them as new members and i am pleased to announce that we have increasing number of minor s. W. On aljazeera but i havent got a hold on how tight from a i dont want to pay never clear because you cant talk about a film that people havent seen much of so this is a little section of the film and something is talk about the community its all such another which tells you a little bit about watch put society have a look. You know but ok. You know someone should. Be heard. As a historian is there anything that youve seen so far out of the six minutes of the film thats going to write a novel you feel would upset the sensibilities of the Rajput Community as a historian. As a historian im particularly not concerned about the sensibility of our full Minority Community which gets to wise its identity only in an extremely patriarchal media can descending wires and games to. Protect the honor of women so seriously i do believe however that there are quite a few conclusions being created here in the name of history first of all i want to make it clear that there is no conflict here between history and my toilet by itself might also have histories but the most important thing is that more than being histories of the rajahs and kings and the ruling groups when mr sunder for example sais that we have sacrificed and we have. No spilled blood and so on basically hes sell for the financing to the raj would come in if he as a ruling government lets make it very clear even in the state of not just tun raj boots are in the minority and. The largest majority of even the rajputs are pretty ordinary there were many class families now as well as then so there are very few very few families who are ruling houses the second thing is that my apologies have histories too as to other things more important things like gender and cost and what we should be talking about here actually is not the movie because nobody has seen it and whatever little we have seen it if you ask me the only thing that bothers me in this film is the kind of. Difficult mission of very very video i did it with this it kind of mess community as well as a very binary juxtaposition of in the one Muslim Community where the audience is you know exhorted to identify that this side or that side. I would beg to differ historically this is not how it used to be the fault lines never was between muslim go listen in the rulers as many people would like to believe the fault lines then as now used to be between genders between castes and between rulers and ruled but im glad to hear that youre right and guess as you point out how you. Know but i think this sunday if i may youre basing this on just a few moments of the trial and of course the place a cut to give a child saying match the narrative of a film as we all know. I want to give you perspective here about people who think that the government needs to weigh in here this is mr gully watching us live on you tube he says i dont know who gave him permission to make these movies using these types of sensitive issues there should be government restrictions on the other hand someone else on twitter says this is gone way too far it has to stop the government has to do something but they wont because how are they going to win the elections so this person is saying there might be political motivations behind us sanjay what do you make about when like politicians are always they will come behind it but let me tell you as a proud member of irans two community and as a proud member of the sort of north america we have nothing to do with politics we are here to preserve our heritage and beauty pageant didnt miss just. One good one point. Talking about history and lets not forget your article about cultural memory let me tell you i have no memory. Nor that been. That history you may not know historians are very quick to point to anything as myth because they. So i dont. Have to do that well for you and your audience also are bound to do research historians also have villages and they also have cultural memories except that theyre sensitive to the fact that cultural memories are always in plural there is never a single cultural memory cultural moment it would get to discuss that before seven or national and interNational Media is a different point and that is where i think you know we should all remember that. Almost more than a year ago. You know small town you know google was renamed in the memory of. Figure figure who was responsible for taking the. You know fingers off one of his white wife or someone i trust is going to describe it i you know rather than to try just. Give me a moment and what do you how tight for a moment lets get us back on track here let me say this had like a multi puff of r. T. Control the c b j p leader mr imus but now its the a bounty on the films team steps down as party Media Coordinator lets go back to the political situation in that mine well impact whats been happening to this film that doesnt have a release still yet because its had to be moved back. Can you help us understand the bigger Political Climate that you never asked so just catching up on the tweet that was shown in the end but i wonder whats coming elections now presently and the three states that have a very full committee and condemned the killing a shooter predation on three of the major presently being by. Now if not the elections are concerned we have been and already have the bulk of the judge what about when just. Finished. So. Well. You let me get it maybe youre throwing me and let me go to you and i have a i only got a few memories like i really want to understand. Take it on what i guess weve all been on the controversy with the film is a call to to whats happened politically and i believe that there is some kind of course of bush in our destruction that the be to be often employs when it comes to i guess in the elephant in the room whenever theres a big crisis situation that is going on in the country at the moment its about that yesterday that is like a huge stack thats been laid on all this. Without any floor talk without any consideration to people belonging to the bottom of the damage and above that you wanted a solution that just struck us like hell and the question is still recovering from it i believe that all the ruling party does right now is a submission tactic is a distraction to sort of not make us not make the common person look at the elephant in the room and question them and condemn them because if they do that wrecked their credibility in the book i mean action im like what the what this bill also does is easily polarizes hindus and muslims and such ludicrous symbols on her binary situation bit is absurd because. I do you claim to be secular and controversial and doesnt. Want to be god. I wish that was the one i. Would have because sort of. So gossipy youre talking as we talk but im going to give you one sentence to finish up finish at once and theres a lot. So there. You are not supporting extremism you are grand i cant be national. I just mentioned this to russia guess where at the end of the show let me say this to roger times now Supreme Court has ruled in favor of r. T. Says the french cant block the release but the film doesnt have a released yet knowing the Film Industry in india knowing how the border senses work what you feel is the future for this film well its a little uncertain right now i feel like as a nation is adjusted and i think the film will not be allowed to screen before the election that will go on after the elections are over it will become relatively amicable lost money process. I have one question the mrs and i and im going to ask you to answer your question online as well right at the very end of the show i know its infuriating i want to know what that question is to really someone that would agree with you this is someone on twitter who says i have full faith that this movie will release after the elections which is over january eighteenth twenty eighteen something to look forward to and i will leave you with a little bit of the trailer. Weve been talking about it over the way for this program let me give you a little clip thanks for watching everybody. When the power goes out. Theres only one humanity trying to. Local heroes to many hes still electricity. But keeping the lights on is dangerous work. As your forces cracked spark speaking to fly. Out on. A witness documentary and this time on aljazeera. The story that had the greatest impact on me would probably be the. Miners died and we were there were no very few television things being right on that spot at that time to dismiss some of the times the story out of the story and films and stuff i like to do that i want this to be over in malaysia like aljazeera english because the news is not sent it and you didnt miss any of the news or any of it is doing what i like. In syria citizens are collecting evidence. Of crimes committed against civilians moved out of syria post six hundred thousand pages of material so that one day they can bring the assad regime to justice puts a human face on the charges its a face but its a face syria witnesses for the prosecution at this time on aljazeera. When the news breaks it was an announcement few were expecting to hear by announce my resignation as Prime Minister from the lebanese government and the story builds i cant stop thinking about my life when people need to be heard. Hundreds of thousands of. 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