Niharika Lal (BOMBAY TIMES; November 15, 2017)

After over 200 members of a Rajput group barged into the malls in Noida’s Sector 18 on Sunday, warning multiplex owners to not screen Padmavati, Noida Police has made it clear that if the CBFC certifies the film and cinema owners decide to screen the movie,they will not allow anyone to stop the screening of the film in any theatre. Senior police officials told us that even though cinema owners have not complained of any threat so far, they are aware of the situation and any “hooliganism” will not be tolerated.

WE WILL BURN CINEMA HALLS SCREENING PADMAVATI: AGITATORS
In videos shot by mall visitors on Sunday,a group of protestors calling themselves Rajputs can be seen accusing filmmakers of distorting facts. The agitators can be seen warning multiplex staff that if the film is released, they will vandalise mall property and will even burn down theatres. “Our demand is that no distorted fact should be shown in the film,and the Rajput community will strongly oppose any move to present wrong facts about Rani Padmavati,” agitators can be heard saying in the videos.

A cinema manager of a multiplex tells us, “On Sunday, some protestors came to our cinema hall and asked us to not screen Padmavati. They also threatened that if we do so,they will burn our theatre. We heard them out and then they left.”

TIMES VIEW
Time and again, movies are held hostage to demands from self-appointed custodians of various interests — of a particular community, of ‘history’, of religious sentiments, etc. They have never been shy of using violence to get their message across, or to bully cinemas into taking a movie down that has been approved for screening by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), the only body authorised to allow or disallow a film’s release. Apart from the CBFC, no one has the right to ‘clear’ or ‘stop’ a film. All those demanding that Padmavati be shown to them for approval are secure in their delusion that authorities will look the other way when they resort to vandalism. It’s high time the authorities broke that delusion.