The ‘Ghoomar’ dance picturised as a part of the much controversial, yet-to-be released movie, Padmavati, has the actress swirl in a lehenga weighing 30 kgs. But what’s that in comparison to the (rumoured) budget of Rs. 200 crores for the film, on the one hand, and all the Rajput sentiments that are running high, on the other? A tough balancing act for the CBFC, indeed.
There is no undermining the importance of history; it, after all, does define ‘where we come from’. Much of the history, as we know it, is from historical chronicles, archeological studies and excavations, and scientific dating methods. These instruments have helped us learn that the Indus Valley Civilisation might be the oldest civilisation that we know of in the world. The knowledge of the destruction of the Roman town of Pompeii caused by the volcanic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius was from one of the 247 surviving letters by Pliny the Younger, who witnessed the destruction of the town. This supported the work of archeologists, who have been able to give us the knowledge of how life in a bustling town saw its own grave in molten lava and ash.
How was history recorded?
Kings would have royal chroniclers and historiographers, who wrote of the heroism of the Kings, the beauty of the Queens, their way of life, the marriages, political alliances, the births, deaths, conquests, victories and vanquishes. In addition, court bards sang the praises of the rulers and weaved poetic descriptions of the lives and times, often adding an element of romanticism and imagination. And, then, ofcourse, the tales were also passed on by word of mouth from one person to another, through the generations, which came to be known as folklore. Much like the game of Chinese Whispers, the story we know today may be quite different from what had actually occurred, since a lot on how the story took form and shape depended on the comprehension of the listener, the story-telling capacity of the narrator and the dramatic embellishments that got added in the process, from narrator to the listener, who in turn became a narrator in this chain. Imagine this process happen over centuries and scores of generations! In the absence of other proof of history, folklore come to be accepted as the truth, guarded with pride and fervour, as an identity of the people. But one must remember that it wasn’t without the many colours, hues and tones that shaped these subjective narrations.
As the debate on Padmavati (Padmini) takes on emotional, and hysterical, tones on protecting an identity and a heritage, and political hues to appease and please the people, reason seems to have lost its place. While historians do admit that Amir Khusrau, from the Court of Allauddin Khilji, did chronicle the siege of Chittorgarh and the jauhar, they also point out the absence of the mention of the queen by the name. Unfortunately, there is no known, historically authenticated chronicle that could challenge this, leaving us to place our knowledge on folklore and on the first poetic account, Padmavat, by the Sufi poet Jayasi, written in Awadhi, a few centuries after the event is known to have occurred. Now, stories travel far and wide, so the place of origin and language of the literature doesn’t come up for argument. But how did Jayasi know of the story? Did he have access to an authentic chronicle of the time or did he also rely on folklore? By the time he heard of the story, it had travelled many generations, and distance, through many people, taking along a bit more of exaggeration and romanticism each time it was narrated; and then, he added a bit of his own imagination to it. With no certainty regarding the origins of the story of Padmavati we, then, enter the realms of beliefs and sentiments, that become sensitive issues taking away from the grasps of reason and logic. There are many such perceptions of the queen, who we love to believe existed and died as a symbol of Rajput courage and honour.
One of the many reservations the people of the community have with respect to Bhansali’s own imagination and portrayal of the queen is that given that ladies observed purdah, and the royalty were placed higher than the subjects out of respect for their stature, they did not indulge in what was thought of as the prerogative of the commoners. One might, therefore, accept that it is quite natural for the decedents of the erstwhile royal family to take objection to the depiction of the Queen dancing with the women-folk. But, then, it again brings us to the idea of creative liberties, freedom of expression etc., which even the royal bards, the people who narrated the stories and the likes of Jayasi have practiced in creating the very folklore that brings to life such historical figures.
Indian history is replete with stories that speak of Her rich history - valour and sacrifice - and culture. And Indian cinema has been quite fascinated by these, maybe naturally so. There have been many movies made on historical characters, some relying on authentic sources and some adding a touch of cinematic license. These have never been contested as being a distortion of history and neither have they been relied upon as a source of history. K. Asif’s movie, ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ was restored a few years back for the benefit of the young viewer. The story of Anarkali as depicted in the movie is believed to be garnished with large doses of imagination. But no student of history would cite the movie as a source to her/his knowledge, and thankfully so! If this were to happen, all our schools might as well shut down and we could simply turn to our film industry for our education.
Freedom of speech and expression is never absolute. It comes with this wonderful rider - ‘with reasonable restrictions’. From the perspective of the film maker, the movie is his narration of what he has learnt of what transpired. Since that leaves room for a lot of uncertainties and subjectivity, are we to take it seriously? One can argue about the distortion of history if there is an authentic, verifiable reference point. Otherwise, it’s pitting one narration against the beliefs and sentiments of the people, which could be dangerous for a democracy. The worrying aspect is that some of the States have already declared a ban on the movie, jumping the gun, even before it has received a certification from the CBFC, the statutory body that certifies the ‘viewablity’ of a movie, for the Indian population. And the actress's home State, governed by the major opposition party of the Centre, was quick to react to the issue by condemning a gag on creativity and threats to actress. Ofcourse, the very existence of some such nanny (read, CBFC) who controls what the people should watch, is in itself a very regressive practise! But doesn’t the proof of the pudding lie in its eating?
The power of banning vests with the Supreme Court, if it believes, in its wisdom, that the release of the movie could lead to a law and order situation. Given that a lot rides on the release of the movie, might it be a better idea to have a ‘ Central Board of Script Certification’?
A Meera bhajan from the movie 'Meerabai', the story of another Rajput queen who resided within the walls of the Chittorgarh fort:
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