Police protection has been provided to the cast and crew of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 'Padmavati' after the set of the period drama were vandalised by miscreants on Tuesday night.
Some miscreants torched the costumes last midnight and a complaint has been filed against them. This is not the first incident that took place on the sets as previously, the shooting of the film was stalled in Jaipur by some activists alleging that the film portrays Rani Padmavati in bad light.
Talking about the incident, police said that, "Around 20 unidentified people burnt down the costumes and the animal feed kept there for the horses featuring in the period drama."
Maharashtra's Minister of State for Home Deepak Kesarkar said the team shooting here has been provided police protection.
Shobha Sant, the CEO of Bhansali Productions, thanked the Maharashtra Police for its "quick and efficient support".
"ThankU #MaharashtraPolice for the quick intervention on the vandalized shoot of #Padmavati... No loss of life, no one seriously hurt on vandalized shoot of #Padmavati," she wrote.
She said a complaint has been filed against the miscreants.
"ThankU everyone for the support. Again. We are all ok. #Padmavati Filed a complaint against miscreants who vandalized our costume & jewelry and set it on fire #Padmavati #SanjayLeelaBhansali (sic)," Shobha posted on Twitter.
The shooting of the Ranveer Singh-Deepika Padukone starrer was underway at Mhasai Pathar, when a group of around 20 people came to the set between 1 AM and 2 AM, 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. They 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.
"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," Kesarkar 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 as Alauddin Khilji and Shahid Kapoor as Raja Ratan Singh.
This is the second such incident. In January, 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.
(With PTI Inputs)
