Padmavati film set vandalised, crew gets police protection

The set of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's film 'Padmavati' was vandalised by unidentified persons at Mhasai Pathar in Kolhapur district in the wee hours today.

The miscreants also torched the costumes and the animal feed kept there for the horses featuring in the period drama, said the police.

Following the incident, the film's crew has been provided police protection, Maharashtra's Minister of State for Home Deepak Kesarkar said.

The shooting of the Deepika Padukone-starer was underway at Mhasai Pathar, a rocky plateau in the western Maharashtra district, when a group of around 20 people came to the set between 1 AM and 2 AM today, the police said.

The miscreants set on fire the costumes of the film and also burnt the fodder kept for the horses, said Senior Police Inspector Dhanya Kumar Godse of Panhala police station.

The film's crew members caught hold of two of the vandals, whose accomplices attacked the film crew and fled the scene after getting them freed, said Godse.

The vandals also tried to set ablaze the vehicles of the crew members parked near the set.

The reason behind the protest was not yet known, the police said.

Godse said no formal complaint has been lodged so far in connection with the incident.

The film's producers were not available for comments.

MoS (Home) Kesarkar, meanwhile, said in Mumbai that the film's producers have been asked to file a complaint with the police regarding the incident.

Once the complaint is filed, the incident would be probed into by the state Home Department, he said.

'The police officials, including the inspector general of police of Kolhapur range and the district SP have met Bhansali and his team.

'The shooting was going on at Mhasai plateau, some six km away from the iconic Panhala fort in Kolhapur district.

After the incident, the state Home department has given them protection and deployed an officer and 12 other policemen,' he told reporters outside Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai. .

'The shooting of film 'Padmavati' was going on since March 6 and was scheduled to be over by March 20,' Kesarkar said.

'The Tuesday night fire damaged two pandals, including the one where the horses were kept while the other one was the costume store room,' he said.

'Prima facie, the pandals were set on fire by some 20-25 people. We want to know whether the perpetrators were local people or they came from some distant locations,' said the MoS (Home).

Deepika plays the role of Rani Padmavati in the film, which also stars Ranveer Singh as Alauddin Khilji and Shahid Kapoor as Raja Ratan Singh.

It is the second such incident for the film. In January this year, some members of a Rajput community group, Karni Sena, had assaulted Bhansali in Jaipur for allegedly presenting 'distorted facts' in 'Padmavati'.

Following the incident, the film's team had cancelled its shooting in Jaipur and Bhansali's production house had to release a statement clarifying the 'misconception' about the film's story.

-PTI