The attacks on Sanjay Leela Bhansali and his crew during the filming of Padmavati have shocked many in the industry. Several celebrities have come forth with statements of their own in support of the director, and now, SLB’s team has released an official statement on behalf of him. In it, they clarify that there’s no objectionable scene between Rani Padmavati and Allauddin Khilji (the rumour which seems to have motivated the attacks) and that they have been carefully researching the film.
Filming in Jaipur has been halted as of now, and the director has returned to Mumbai.
Here’s the official statement from SLB’s office:
Sanjay Leela Bhansali has shot two films in Jaipur and despite his love for Rajasthan, for the safety of his crew, we have decided to stop the shoot and leave the city post the shocking incident where miscreants damaged property and misbehaved with the crew on the shoot of ‘Padmavati’. SLB had directed the opera ‘Padmavati’ to packed houses in Paris and earned worldwide praise for it. He was inspired by the beautiful and courageous queen and is making a feature film on the story. We clarify that there is no dream sequence or any objectionable scene between Rani Padmavati and Allauddin Khilji. We have been carefully researching and making the film. In spite of this, the attack on the shoot and crew was uncalled for and was extremely damaging to the image of the beautiful city of Jaipur. We are grateful to the authorities at Jaipur who responded promptly and limited the damage on shoot. We are confident that Mewar will be proud of the film made on their revered queen. We do not want to hurt any sentiments and would appreciate if the local people support us in making this film and making their queen revered by the world.
Read the statements by Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor. Deepika Padukone has also chimed in by saying:
You can read more of Bollywood’s reactions here.