Padmavati Row

Faith its degeneration when alone — bigotry
fanaticism — sectarianism. Narrowing
finite therefore cannot get to the infinite
Sometimes gain in intensity but loses in
extensity — and in bigots & fanatics become
worship of his own pride & vanity                                         

                                                          - Swami Vivekananda

              

A lot has been said and written in the recent past about the film Padmavati.

The Indian Film Industry makes a lot of cinema,thousands of which are absolutely crap,junk movies and mind you they make lots of crores.

In this situation where good stories are hard to come by,where there is a dearth of good content for making films,I believe historical stories,inspirations,influences have become more of a necessity rather than just being welcome.

Being a huge film enthusiast I wait patiently for months and sometimes years to watch a good movie or cinema.

Getting back specifically to Padmavati,there is a lot of talk on getting historical facts right,I believe flimmakers are not in the business of writing history textbooks,they make films and they make it for an audience.

The script or story of the film,is completely the filmmakers story,it is his interpretation, his understanding of the subject and let me add I believe he has the complete freedom to express his understanding of the topic.

There have been various instances in our history were people have given there own interpretations to many historical epics. Eg: MT Vasudevan Nair ‘s Randamoozham is a story of Mahabharata from Bhima’s Point of view. Also there are many interpretations and variations of classic Indian epic Ramayanam by absolutely amazing Indian authors like Valmiki Ramayanam, Adhyatma Ramayanam by Ved Vyasa,Ramacharitmanas by Tulisidas,Thunchaththu Ezuthachan’s Adhyatma Ramayanam – Kilipattu and Kamba Ramayanam to name a few.

I believe the filmmaker also has the right to be wrong.He is not in the business of making a curriculum for school students.People have the complete freedom to disagree with his view of Padmavati.

If Shri Rajput Karni Sena or Maharana Arvind Singh Mewar of Udaipur or anybody else feel that the filmmaker has got his history wrong on Padmavati,I am sure that Shri Rajput Karni Sena or Maharana Arvind Singh Mewar of Udaipur can most certainly make a better film with the correct historical facts.

As an audience I am happy watching a better movie.