Bhansali Had Already Worked On Some Parts Of Padmaavat In 80s, Where Was Karni Sena Then?

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Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s latest magnum opus ‘Padmaavat’ was initially titled as Padmavati and was slated to release on December 1, 2017. But due to constant protest by Rajput groups and ban by various state governments, the movie was pushed to January 25 and was titled as Padmaavat. The movie has now been released. While it was opposed to releasing, many may not know that SLB had already worked in a small version of the movie on Rani Padmavati in the 80s.

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Filmmaker Shyam Benegal wrote the ambitious 53-part-series Bharat Ek Khoj for Doordarshan in 1988. There, one episode of the series has dedicated the story of Rani Padmavati and Alauddin Khilji which featured the late Om Puri as Alauddin Khilji, Rajendra Gupta as Raja Ratan Singh and Seema Kelkar as Padmavati.

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Sanjay Leela Bhansali did an editing course at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune from 1985-88. Benegal’s Bharat Ek Khoj was probably one of his first jobs in the professionally where he began as an assistant editor. In an interview with a leading tabloid, Shyam Bengal described his experience.

“At the time, Sanjay Leela Bhansali was starting his career. He was assisting his sister. His sister was one of main the editors of my series. Sanjay used to come and assist her. I’m not sure if he assisted her on that particular episode or not, but the fact is that he did assist in the editing of the series, Bharat Ek Khoj. One knew that, even then, he was very talented, extremely curious, and mindful of details. I didn’t realize that he’ll be a director because it seemed like he was going to be an editor.” – Filmmaker Shyam Bengal

SLB’s movie ‘Padmaavat’ is a movie based on the life of Mewar’s royal Queen Padmavati. During the shoot of the film due to some rumours, the film started facing oppositions from the Rajput groups. The opposition has become so intense that various state governments have banned the film’s release.

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The film stars Deepika Padukone as Rani Padmavati, Shahid Kapoor as Maharawal Ratan Singh and Ranveer Singh as Allaudin Khilji and has already minted Crores in Indian Box-Office in just a few days of release.

Published by Bhaumik Raja on 06 Feb 2018