Manikarnika: Brahmin outfit withdraws protest

Kangana Ranaut during the shoot of Manikarnika.

A Brahmin outfit in Rajasthan, which had objected to the shooting of film Manikarnika in the state, withdrew its protest Saturday, claiming that the filmmakers have given them a written assurance that there is no indecent portrayal of Rani Laxmibai in the Kangana Ranaut-starrer.

The Sarv Brahmin Mahasabha (SBM) had threatened to disrupt the film’s shooting in Rajasthan alleging that Rani Laxmibai was portrayed as having an affair with an Englishman. “We had written a letter to the filmmakers around 15 days back asking for clarification on the issue. On Saturday, Kamal Jain, producer of the film, met and assured us that the film had no such storyline. After they gave us a written assurance to this effect, we have decided to withdraw our protest,” claimed SBM president Suresh Mishra.

Mishra said the filmmakers assured the outfit in a letter that there was no such plot of a love affair. “Jain told me that the person who is writing the story of the film has been associated with films such as Baahubali and Bajrangi Bhaijaan and the film is not based on a book by Jaishree Misra, as we thought,” claimed Mishra.

“We have withdrawn our protest but we want to make this clear once again that no distortion of history would be tolerated,” Mishra added. “We have not distorted history and there is no romantic song or sequence with the Britishers in the film,” reads the letter bearing Jain’s signature.