‘Padmaavat’ to be screened in Jodhpur cinema hall for Rajasthan high court judge

Jaipur: A special screening of the controversial movie – Padmaavat – will be held in Jodhpur on February 5. In the audience will be a Rajasthan high court judge and some judicial officers.

The Jodhpur bench of Rajasthan high court on Friday directed the police and administration to arrange a special show of the movie on Monday. The film will be screened in Satyam, a cinema hall near the police control room building in Jodhpur.

The Rajasthan high court in January had asked Bollywood producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali to screen the movie in the court so that a decision could be reached on a petition requesting the quashing of an FIR registered against the producer and the star cast of the movie.

The FIR was lodged against Bhansali and others including Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone with Didwana police station in Nagaur district of Rajasthan under section 153A and 295A of IPC on February 17 last year. In the FIR, the complainants, Virendra Singh and Nagpal Singh, alleged that the movie threatened to disrupt communal harmony and hurt the religious sentiments of a community.

Bhansali’s lawyers said that the production company was willing to screen the movie on Saturday.

The matter came up again for hearing on Friday. The lawyers informed the judge Sandeep Mehta that it wouldn’t be possible for them to screen the high-resolution movie inside the court. The court asked where they wanted to hold the screening. The lawyers went with Satyam cinema hall. Commissioner of police Ashok Rathore and DCP Dr Amandeep Kapoor appeared before the court and requested for two weeks time to ensure law and order.

The court commented that the Supreme Court had already cleared the movie for release, so why they needed two weeks. The high court directed the police to arrange the screening on February 5.