‘Bajirao Mastani’ in trouble with Bajirao’s family

Descendants of Maratha warrior Peshwa Bajirao and his second wife Mastani on Friday demanded the removal of two songs from the Sanjay Leela Bhansali directed Bajirao Mastani and urged the director to show them the movie before its release.

They alleged that the songs Pinga and Malhar from the film distort facts and show their ancestors in a poor light.

“We haven’t seen the movie yet but the promos are very misleading. The Pinga song features Mastani and Kashibai [Bajirao’s first wife] dancing together, which is impossible,” Udaysinh Peshwa, a descendant of Bajirao, told reporters.

“The other song, Malhar, shows Bajirao dancing and the lyrics are very wrong. We want these two songs to be removed from the film and the movie be shown to us before the release,” he added.

The film starring Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra is scheduled to release in the UAE on December 17.

Awais Bahadur, heir of Mastani, said the makers did not consult the family before making the film.

“Has there ever been a king in India who made his wives dance in his court? They should’ve consulted us before making the film. We don’t want to ban it. Show us the film, remove all the objectionable shots and then release it,” Bahadur said.

Peshwa said Bhansali had made promises to the family when they were invited to the film set.

“I didn’t visit. My family was there. They even requested him to keep the story true to the history. He had promised.”

The film is based on the book Rau Kashibai which, Peshwa said, also had faults.

Earlier, the descendants had filed a plea in the Madhya Pradesh High Court seeking a stay on the release of Bajirao Mastani.

Bahadur said, “We had tweeted Bhansali requesting him to talk to us regarding the film. But he still hasn’t replied to even our notice.”