Naseeruddin Shah speaks out on Padmavati controversy and why it’s worrisome

By Faridoon Shahryar -

February 14, 2017 - 2:31 PM IST

Naseeruddin Shah in an exclusive interview with Bollywood Hungama's Faridoon Shahryar gave a different perspective to the Padmavati controversy where Sanjay Leela Bhansali was assaulted by stating that things like these are worrisome but the precedent for such actions was set by the previous government.

Naseeruddin Shah speaks out on Padmavati controversy and why it’s worrisome

The entire incident that happened with Sanjay Leela Bhansali on the sets of Padmavati recently has been shocking for the film industry...
I am not really qualified to talk on that because I am not very aware about what the film ‘Padmavati’ contains and I’ve no idea of accurate history. But it’s getting very worrisome.

Jaya Bachchan has said at Rajya Sabha, “Creativity should not be subjected to such treatment. Sometime they are threatened, sometime films are not allowed be screened, sets are vandalised and sometimes it takes a violent turn as it happened in Jaipur recently. What message are we sending to the film fraternity which is one of the most important and vibrant ambassador of the country.”
No it’s right but it’s nothing new. This has been happening always. There was a film called ‘Kissa Kursi Ka’ in the Congress time which made fun of emergency and it was banned and the print was burned, producer was threatened and so on. It’s coming to light a lot more now, becoming more blatant. The fact is precedent has been set a long ago. ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ was banned by the Congress government, ‘The Satanic Verses’ was banned by Congress government. What’s happening now is nothing new; the frequency with which it’s happening is worrisome & the alacrity with which people take to violence but I really don’t know what occurred on the sets so I am not qualified.