£1.1 m bounty offered for the head of Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone

Bollywood actress  Deepika Padukone, one of the highest-paid actress in India, recipient of several awards, who plays Rajput queen Padmavati in the film based on a 16th century Sufi poem, has stirred up up controversy as the release of the Bollywood film has been put on hold after £1.1 million  Rs 10 crore bounty was offered to anyone who beheads the leading actress and the film’s Director.

Suraj Pal Amu,  the chief media co-ordinator  for India’s Hindu nationalist ruling party, BJP made the call against the actress who previously starred alongside Vin Diesel in the xXx franchise, ahead of her latest project Padmavati over its alleged portrayal of a relationship between a Muslim conqueror and Hindu Rajput queen.

The  film set in the 14th century depicts the life of queen padmavati.

Rajput  descendants of ruling Hindu warrior classes  36 royal Kshatriya clans as mentioned in the scared bools of “Ramayana”, who rose to prominence during the 6th to 12th centuries, is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western central, northern India. The Chandelas of Khajurajo, a Rajput dynasty was founded by Jayasakthi, who ruled the areas across Bundelkhand with Khajuraho as their capital and the dynasty came to an end after Alauddin Khalji conquered Bundelkhand.

The film would not be allowed to release  in two states at all after it was scheduled to open to audiences on 1 December 2017.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party has since condemned the call for beheading and has asked Mr Amu to apologise immediately. Hardline Hindu fringe groups  was shocked by the storyline of the film and accused Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s portrayal of distorting history by depicting the Muslim character, Alauddin Khilji, as the Hindu queen’s “lover”. The director was threatened and attacked on set in January 2017 by a Rajput group as some believe the queen chose to kill herself rather than accept the Muslim ruler’s advances.

BJP’s head of Haryana unit, Anil Jain said: “We will not tolerate any violent remarks from our party members and Amu should apologise and equally we want the director to respect India’s history.”

The deputy chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Keshav Prasad Maurya, said: “ he would not allow the film to be shown in his state unless scenes showing the queen in a “poor light| were totally deleted. How can a Muslim aggressor be portrayed as the real hero and the Hindu King and queen as victims? This is factually incorrect”.

Anurag Srivastava the head of the Central Board of Film Certification said the producer’s application to release the film was  denied because they did not clarify if the film was based on fact or fiction. Viacom18, the studio  behind the £17 million  production said  they  “voluntarily deferred” the release date.

Police have however, offered increased security to Padukone and Bhansali.

Deepika Padukone  said she feels angry and let down – but that she will “never feel scared”.