Jaipur theatres stop Panipat screening

Movie theatres in Jaipur have decided to stop screening the film Panipat for now. This is after protests from royal families in Rajasthan and Jat groups. The film has been directed by Ashutosh Govarikar and tells the story of the Third Battle of Panipat fought in 1761 between the Marathas and Afghan King Ahmad Shah Abdali.

Shows were cancelled after theatres received orders from the state administration. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has asked the censor board to intervene after a minister in his government called for the ban. The minister who has done this is Vishvendra Singh. He has had alleged the film shows his ancestor Maharaja Surajmal of Bharatpur, as not helping the Maratha army.

It is very sad that a great man like Maharaja Surajmal Jat of Bharatpur has been depicted in the film Panipat in a very wrong way while tampering with historical facts. I believe that the film should be banned in view of the huge opposition in the Jat community of Haryana, Rajasthan and North India, otherwise, the law and order of the country may deteriorate. – Vishvendra Singh, Rajasthan Minister

Gehlot had earlier said the government will look into the matter if needed. “I have not seen the movie. It is a prerogative of the government. If any such incident is there in the movie, the concerned departments must be looking into it. It will be shown,” he said.

Panipat stars Arjun Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt and Kriti Sanon.

In January last year, hundreds of supporters of groups like the Karni Sena protested against the release of Bollywood film Padmaavat. The film, starring Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh, and Shahid Kapur, was cleared by the censor board after a number of edits and a change of title.

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