Veteran actor Sharmila Tagore has rued that people in the industry don't speak on issues like ban on Padmaavat fearing "instant backlash" and an impact on business. "Today if you speak up, there is an instant backlash and it does affect your film. People really don't want to go and see a film, if they feel there will be unrest or violence," she said.
"Also the producers don't want you to say anything because they say our business will get affected. So don't be too heroic about it. So everybody is looking at their business angle... They feel this will die down," Tagore told Barkha Dutt at the book launch of daughter Soha Ali Khan last night.
Padmaavat, whose release was pushed due to protests from various Rajput groups over the alleged portrayal of queen Padmini, was banned by four states -- Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan -- even after a clearance from the Central Board of Film Certification.
The makers finally decided to move the Supreme Court, which today lifted the ban on the film, clearing the decks for its nationwide release on January 25.
Tagore said rather than taking up the issue as a problem that is affecting the industry, the producers like to sort things on their own.
"All the big producers pick up the phone and speak to ministers or authorities concerned to sort out their problem. In that way the industry does not gain much. If everybody comes together, then maybe a law will be enacted, a precedent will be set," she said at the 'We the Women' event.
"They want to sort out their own problems. The big boys -- Karan Johar, Bhansali -- would sort out their problems individually," she added.
(With PTI Inputs)
