SLB Reveals! Why Deepika Padukone Was Not Ready To Shoot Ghoomar & What Happened When He Got Slapped

We Were Shooting This Scene

I am rehearsing a shot, where people have to say that ‘the enemy is in the fort', and we come down, and we see the soldiers running to fight. ‘The enemy is in the fort' - how prophetic is that? So we are rehearsing, and I was in a very good mood. We are sitting, and we started hearing these sounds. So I said the crowd here is very conscientious!

They Injured Two Girl Assistants...

They are rehearsing the roars. I was like, ‘Damn cool, this never happens in Bombay!' And suddenly, one of the union members came running in and said, ‘People are coming!' And before I could say, ‘what people?' there was an attack. They started throwing things, breaking things. They beat two girl assistants up, one whack came on me, my specs flew off.

They Raised Their Hands

I never expected this. Even if you have a doubt and you wanted to protest, would you raise your hand? They could say, please talk to us, please stop shooting, or please leave the place. But a protest also has to have a certain dignity about what you are protesting, and I could say yes, you have a point.

I Said, Enough Is Enough

This is extremely angering, it is extremely humiliating. And you sit back and wonder, could this have really happened? I have not seen any filmmaker in any part of the world go through this. Where is this coming from? So then you go to Kolhapur, because you realise it is not possible to shoot there (in Rajasthan). And then the set is burnt. I went back to Kolhapur and said, enough is enough, I am shooting exactly where I want to. I am not going back. Enough.

My Face Has Changed Because Of The Protests

All that I have gone through - how much has it changed my face? If I were to make my portrait, I have changed so much in the last one year. Which filmmaker has been attacked physically? Assaulted, with a whack given on the neck and the face? Nowhere in the world. Which filmmaker has been told that we are burning your set right in front of you?

On Ghoomar Controversy

Ghoomar Rajasthan ki glory hai. Folk music ki. Every wedding, every part of the world, 'Ghoomar' is being played everywhere. I have revived ghoomar in so many ways. Why are we wanting to justify it? It's a folk form. Even if they had taken 'Ghoomar' away from my film, ghoomar cannot die. But today, ghoomar is revived, everybody's discovered it, they understand that this taal and this laya means ghoomar, this is the rhythm pattern, and this is how we dance to it.

Woh Rani Toh Dance Nahi Karti

A Punjabi or a Gujarati is also dancing to 'Ghoomar'. But for that, I was told, ‘Woh, rani toh dance nahi karti ghoomar ka, yeh toh ho hi nahi sakta, woh toh karna nahi chahiye, midriff nahi dikhna chahiye'... history in so many ways is not one file you can take out from a shelf...

it's interpreted over the years, it's told, it's re-told. It's changed according to convenience over the centuries. But how do you justify that? How do you say, historically, a rani didn't dance? They would have danced in the zenana, they would have danced in the women's chambers...

Deepika Padukone Was Not Prepared For Ghoomar

'Ghoomar's' set had to wait for one-and-a-half months, because Deepika thought she was not ready to shoot that song, she needed to train more. Mehboob Studios waited, said, no issues. And I shot the song, and today people say it's the best song I've shot.