BHARATHI S. PRADHAN - CELEBRITY CIRCUS

When 2017 dawned, did anyone imagine that what started off as a protest in January would snowball into a movement before December 1? And that too not an Anna Hazare type of substantial agitation against corruption but over just another Hindi film?

For the umpteenth time in her 10-year career, one would like to remind Deepika Padukone, who in all her newcomer naivete had assured me that success or failure, she'd always be a picture of equanimity, never overly excited or unduly deflated. Today, she couldn't possibly be a vision in composure as Rajput ire has stoked fatwa-like pronouncements that they'll cut her nose, forcing her to go on a maun vrat along with the rest of Team Bhansali. She couldn't even go and give a speech at an event in Telangana, where the Prime Minister would be in attendance. (That sure would've been a political squirm - Padmavati with the PM before Gujarat elections.)

Unfortunately, the ensuing silence has spawned much misinformation. But quiet, unrecorded conversations with those deep inside do throw up some disturbing details. One of them leads to a couple of uncomfortable questions that must be asked of the much-respected chairman of the censor board, Prasoon Joshi.

He is a dignified, well-spoken man of letters and, therefore, escapes the strong barbs that were thrown with impunity at the Sindhi businessman who occupied his chair just four months ago. While many like Arnab Goswami publicly called Pahlaj Nihalani "a joker", everybody is more circumspect about putting his successor on the mat.

But the fact is, Padmavati (the film, not the rani) has to go and stand at the back of the queue today as it now comes under the category of films that haven't decided on a release date. There have been murmurs about "proper documentation" and "following proper procedure" but tell me another, please. Viacom, which is bankrolling Padmavati, is more than 100 movies old while Sanjay Leela Bhansali has rolled out over a dozen as a producer. Can anybody believe that between the two, they wouldn't know how to fill up a censor form or be well-versed in the procedure?

Joshi's surprising anger over a private screening for Arnab and Rajat Sharma also requires an explanation from him. Firstly, show us the rule which says that a filmmaker cannot have a private screening for anybody before the censors see a film. Secondly, I know I have but has Joshi himself never seen any film before it was certified? Didn't his best friend, Aamir Khan, for instance, show Dangal to dozens of people before it went to the censors?

The board was perhaps ballooning with importance at the prospect of being the privileged first to watch a film that whipped up countrywide curiosity. And the members must have felt punctured when the honour was taken away and given to two TV editors. One can't think of any other reason for the chairman or board members to behave like someone had snatched the candy from their hands.

To return to Padmavati, there have also been whispers about the delay causing a "whopping loss of Rs 200 crore or more". Two quick facts. One, the film is insured as all corporate films are. In fact, when two of their shooting schedules were disrupted in Rajasthan and Kolhapur with sets being vandalised or burnt down, the damages were covered by their insurance policy.

Two, Padmavati is Bhansali's creation but the funding comes from right up there. Viacom is a Mukesh Ambani company and the figures being bandied around are but a drop in the Ambani ocean.

Therefore, it's not about the money, it's about creativity being caught in the crossfire of politics and then bowing to a political compromise. Let's not forget that not just Ambani but Bhansali too is a Gujarati and, in 2014, he had publicly declared his support for Narendra Modi. Bhai bhai mein samjhauta toh banta hai, na?

Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and author