After much controversy, Padmavati, now renamed Padmavati, will release on January 25. This Republic weekend release will clash with the another highly anticipated film—Akshay Kumar-starrer Pad Man.
Bollywood critic Taran Adarsh confirmed Padmavat's release date in a tweet on Monday. Padmavat was initially scheduled for release on December 1, 2016, but was postponed due to massive protests against the film. Sanjay Leela Bhansali's magnum opus starring Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor had been mired in controversy since the beginning. The Rajput Karni Sena is opposed to the way the character Padmavati, essayed by Padukone, is represented in the film, and had issued even death threats against Padukone.
After the controversy, the film was screened for a special bench of historians who suggested five modifications which included the change in the title from Padmavati to Padmavat. According to reports, Padmavat received a U/A certificate from CBFC on Friday. January 25 will also see release of Aiyaary starring Manoj Bajpai and Sidharth Malhotra. Viacom18 Motion Pictures and Sanjay Leela Bhansali Productions are yet to announce the official release date of Padmavat.
#Padmavat to release on 25 Jan 2018... #RepublicDayWeekend
— taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) January 8, 2018
Meanwhile, the Karni Sena is now demanding for names of the characters in Padmavat to be changed.
Karni Sena member Mahipal Singh Makrana said, “We have a very clear stand since day one that we want this film to be banned. The committee made by the CBFC watched the movie and said the movie was vulgar and the facts were distorted. The film is made just to earn money. Along with the name of the movie, the characters names should also be changed.”
Makrana appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take cognisance in the matter.
-with inputs from ANI
