A descendant of Peshwa Bajirao has objected to a dialogue in Panipat trailer, which he claims tarnishes the image of the Maratha leader.
The film stars Arjun Kapoor as Sadashiv Rao, nephew of Bajirao, while Kriti plays his wife, Parvatibai in the film. She is seen telling Arjun in the film trailer, “Maine suna hai Peshwa jab akele muhim par jaate hain to ek Mastani ke saath laut te hain (I have heard whenever Peshwa goes to battle alone, he returns with a Mastani).”
Watch Panipat trailer
According to a report on Firstpost, Nawabzada Shadab Ali Bahadur, the eighth-generation descendant of the Peshwa, has sent notices to producers Sunita Gowarikar and Rohit Shelatkar and director Ashutosh to remove the ‘controversial’ dialogues.
Calling the dialogue objectionable, he told the portal, “The particular dialogue in the movie — ‘whenever Peshwa returns from battleground, he brings one Mastani’ — is in bad taste and highly objectionable. The way it has been used, presents a bad picture of not only Mastani Sahiba but also of the Peshwa to our audience and to young minds unaware of Maratha history. Mastani Bai was the bona fide wife of Peshwa Baji Rao and not just another woman.”
He added, “After seeing that portion in the trailer of the movie, I have sent notices to the producers and the director to remove that portion or make necessary changes. If they don’t respond, I’ll move court against them.”
Panipat is based on the Third Battle of Panipat and stars Sanjay Dutt as the main antagonist, Ahmad Shah Abdali. Mohnish Bahl will be seen as Nana Saheb Peshwa, Padmini Kolhapure as Gopika Bai, Zeenat Aman as Sakina Begum and Kunal Kapoor as Shuja-ud-Daula in the film. It is set to hit theatres on December 6.
Prasanta Patnaik