Padmavati
director
Sanjay
Leela
Bhansali
and
censor
board
chief
Prasoon
Joshi
have
been
asked
by
a
parliamentary
committee
on
IT
to
appear
before
it
and
present
their
views
on
the
controversy
surrounding
the
movie
which
has
been
accused
of
distorting
history
by
fringe
groups.
The
30-member
panel
has
also
asked
producers
of
the
movie
and
officials
of
the
information
and
broadcasting
ministry
to
appear
before
it
and
brief
about
the
controversy
relating
to
the
Rs
150
crore
film.
"The
panel
has
asked
Bhansali
and
Joshi
to
appear
before
it
and
present
their
views
on
the
movie.
They
can
present
their
case
before
the
panel.
The
members
have
also
decided
to
call
the
producers
of
the
movie," chairman
of
the
panel
Anurag
Thakur
told
PTI.
The
committee
is
scheduled
to
meet
on
Thursday.
Interestingly,
actors
Paresh
Rawal
and
Raj
Babbar,
who
are
members
of
Parliament,
are
also
part
of
the
panel
which
will
examine
the
issues
relating
to
the
movie.
Parliamentary
sources
said
they
have
reached
out
to
Bhansali,
but
he
appeared
to
be
"shying
away" from
appearing
before
the
panel.
The
censor
board
is
yet
to
clear
the
film.
The
film,
starring
Deepika
Padukone,
Shahid
Kapoor
and
Ranveer
Singh,
is
based
on
Rajput
queen
Padmini.
As
allegations
of
distorting
history
in
the
film
triggered
protests
in
various
states,
the
makers
of
the
movie
has
deferred
its
release
date.
The
film
was
scheduled
to
release
on
December
1,
this
year.
The
Karni
Sena,
a
fringe
group,
as
well
as
the
BJP
have
been
critical
of
the
film
and
a
number
of
BJP
ruled
states
have
already
banned
it.
The
set
of
the
movie
was
vandalised
twice
--
in
Jaipur
and
Kolhapur
--
and
director
Sanjay
Leela
Bhansali
was
roughed
up
by
members
of
Karni
Sena
earlier
this
year.
Another
parliamentary
panel
has
also
called
the
officials
of
the
ministry
and
censor
board
over
the
controversy.