Padmavati is an upcoming Indian period drama film directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and jointly produced by Bhansali and Viacom 18 Motion Pictures. The film features Deepika Padukone in the title role as Rani Padmini, alongside Ranveer Singh, Shahid Kapoor, and Aditi Rao Hydari.
The film was originally scheduled for release on 17 November 2017, but protests in Rajasthan impacted filming. The film is scheduled for release on 1 December 2017.
Padmini, also known as Padmavati, was a legendary 13th-14th century Indian queen . The earliest source to mention her is Padmavat, an epic poem written by Malik Muhammad Jayasi in 1540 CE. The text, which features elements of fantasy, describes her story as follows: Padmavati was an exceptionally beautiful princess of the Singhal kingdom (Sri Lanka).
Ratan Sen, the Rajput ruler of Chittor, heard about her beauty from a talking parrot named Hiraman. After an adventurous quest, he married her and brought her to Chittor.
Alauddin Khalji, the Sultan of Delhi also heard about her beauty, and attacked Chittor to obtain her. Meanwhile, Ratan Sen was killed in a combat with Devpal, the king of Kumbhalner who was also enamoured with Padmavati’s beauty.
Before Alauddin Khalji could capture Chittor, Padmavati and her companions committed Jauhar (self-immolation) to protect their honour.
The film is a fictionised account of the life of Rani Padmini, a legendary Hindu Rajput queen, mentioned in Padmavat. According to Padmavat, she was the wife of Rana Rawal Ratan Singh, the Rajput ruler of Mewar.
In 1303, Alauddin Khalji, the Turkic ruler of the Delhi Sultanate, laid siege to the Chittor Fort in Rajputana. According to Padmavat, Khalji led the invasion motivated by his desire to capture Rani Padmini.
During the shooting of the film in January 2017 in Jaipur, the members of Shri Rajput Karni Sena protested at sets at Jaigarh Fort alleging that the Bhansali depicted wrong facts in the film.They also tried to vandalise the sets.
On 6 March 2017 these members again vandalised the Chittorgarh Fort and broke the mirrors installed in the palace of Rani Padmini. According to officials of the Archaeological Survey of India, these mirrors were put up some 40 years ago in the Chittorgarh Fort.
On 15 March 2017 a group of unidentified vandals again attacked and set fire to the sets of this movie in Kolhapur which led to production set, costumes and jewelleries burnt.
Ranveer Singh, Shahid Kapoor and Deepika Padukone’s look from Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s much-awaited movie Padmavati has been unveiled by the makers of the film and the audience cannot stop talking about it.
Filmmaker Karan Johar, who loved the look of all three characters from the film, Mr Bhansali’s aesthetics and visualization are ‘always beautiful.’ “There’s no doubt that Padmavati looks exceptionally beautiful. All the three looks, even Ranveer Singh’s look, were exotic. Deepika is always eternally beautiful but I think Bhansali makes her look more beautiful,”
