The ongoing row over Sanjay Leela Bhansali's film Padmavati turned ugly on Thursday as an activist of Shri Rajput Karni Sena threatened to chop off lead actress Deepika Padukone's nose.
A Rajput community in Meerut reportedly announced a bounty of Rs 5 crore on Bhansali's head while several other fringe outfits continued their protests in different parts of the country threatening to resort to violence if the film was released on December 1.
"Rajputs never raise a hand on women but if need be, we will do to Deepika what Lakshman did to Shurpanakha," Mahipal Singh Makrana of Shri Rajput Karni Sena said in video shared by a multi-media news agency on Twitter.
Holding a press conference in Jaipur, founder patron of Shri Rajput Karni Sena Lokendra Singh Kalvi reiterated his outfit's call for Bharat Bandh on December 1.
"We will gather in lakhs, our ancestors wrote history with blood. We will not let anyone blacken it," he told reporters.
Amid the rising temper, Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari and Uma Bharti sided with the protestors with the Road Transport Minister saying the freedom of speech was "not absolute" and that the filmmakers should "maintain cultural sensitivity".
A news channel also quoted Gadkari as saying that films cannot distort history.
In a series of tweets, Uma held the director of 'Padmavati' and the film's script writer responsible for its story, saying they should have taken care of "the sentiments and historical facts".
She, however, termed the Karni Sena member's remarks against Deepika as "uncalled for an immoral", appealing to the artistes, who have acted in the film, not become "a party" to the ongoing row.
The Central Board of Film Certification chief Prasoon Joshi told a news channel that the due procedure would be followed in order to take a decision on the fate of the film.
"I have not watched the film, not expressed any views regarding it (so far)," he said.
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