Hardline Hindus offer $2m for Bollywood stars’ heads

Hindu nationalists are angry at the release of a Bollywood blockbuster that they claim distorts history.

Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone has riled the Bharatiya Janata Party for her role in Padmavati. Picture: AP

A price has been placed on the head of one of India’s biggest female film stars as Hindu nationalists become increasingly angry at the release of a Bollywood blockbuster that they claim distorts history.

Suraj Pal Amu, a senior official with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, has offered a reward for the murder of Deepika Padukone, the star of Padmavati, a historical epic about a 14th-century queen of legendary beauty.

The BJP had demanded a delay in the film’s release, claiming historical inaccuracies it contained could inflame religious tensions before elections next month. After weeks of threats and pressure, the film’s producers yesterday confirmed they would postpone the release ­indefinitely.

Mr Amu had offered a bounty of 100 million rupees ($2m) on Padukone’s head and that of ­director Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The BJP official threatened to break the legs of Ranveer Singh, the leading man, who is Padu­kone’s off-screen partner.

The Hindu right had hounded the film. Cast and crew received death threats from online zealots for weeks, sets were burnt down and the director was assaulted, but the threats escalated sharply in recent days. After one man ­offered 50 million rupees to murder Padukone and Bhansali last week, Mr Amu doubled it. “We will reward those who behead them with 10 crore (100 million rupees) and also take care of their family’s needs,” he told a crowd at the weekend.

Based on an epic poem, Padmavati retells events of 1303, when, according to legend, Alauddin Khilji, the sultan of Delhi, laid siege to Chittor Fort in Rajasthan, obsessed by tales of Padmavati’s beauty and determined to claim her for himself.

With her husband killed in a duel and the fort about to fall, the queen set herself on fire to avoid the sultan’s clutches. Much of the story has been debunked but Padmavati is an icon to Hindu nationalists for preserving her honour before the Muslim invader.

Since filming started, rumours spread that Bhansali was determined to bring one of Bollywood’s most high-profile couples together on-screen and so had added a romantic plot line or dream ­sequence between Padmavati and Khilji. Despite denials by Bhan­sali and his stars, a Hindu mob raided the set.

A BJP official distanced his party from Mr Amu yesterday, saying: “The party has nothing to do with such statements ... no one can issue such fatwas.”

With money on offer to a hit-man, many feel that the damage has been done. However, India has a history of religiously motivated killings and last week Hindu hardliners unveiled a bust of Nathuram Godse, who murdered Mahatma Gandhi in 1948.

Whether Padmavati can be released is unclear. It seems a guaranteed hit and already high interest has been stoked by the controversy. Its trailer has been watched more times on YouTube than that of the next Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi. Local governments warn of a risk of riots in cinemas if Padmavati is shown.

Mr Amu was unrepentant. Condemning Mr Singh for defending his director at the weekend, he said: “If you do not take your words back, we will break your legs.”

The Times