Maratha-Brahmin dispute surfaces over Shivaji film

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[google-translator]

Mumbai: A historical film – ‘Har Har Mahadev’– has stoked the Brahimin-Maratha divide once again.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former minister Jitendra Awhad forced the management of a Thane multiplex to abort the screening of the film on Monday and allegedly removed patrons from the theatre by force, on the premise that the film had distorted facts about Chattrapati Shivaji.

This is not new – in the past, Maratha outfits have alleged that certain historians have portrayed an erroneous image of Shivaji, as being guided by Brahmins, such as his guru Samarth Ramdas and teacher Dadoji Konddev. They have also held that Shivaji was not anti-Muslim and had several Muslims in his army.

The age-old controversy took political centrestage in 2003 when NCP supported the agitation of Maratha outfits against James Laine’s book ‘Hindu king in Islamic India’ on Shivaji. At the time, Sambhaji Brigade also attacked Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, in Pune, alleging researchers had provided objectionable inputs on Shivaji to Laine.

The party’s stand earned it political mileage in the 2004 assembly elections. Since then, NCP has been vocal about the issue. Its strong undercurrent of Maratha pride also helped it in the 2019 assembly elections in western Maharashtra.

In 2015, when the Devendra Fadnavis-government was in power, NCP along with other Maratha organisations, objected to Maharashtra Bhushan, the state government’s highest honour, being conferred upon historian Babasaheb Purandare. They alleged that Purandare’s literature had distorted history and sullied the reputation of the warrior king.

In the present controversy, Shivaji’s descendent and former MP Chhatrapati Sambhaji, was the first to critique the filmmaker’s cinematic liberty. Also, after the mahurat of the Akshay Kumar-starrer ‘Vedat Marathe Veer Daudale Saat’, last week, he objected to the actor essaying the role, as his height did not match the character. “False history is being presented to us through such movies. I would request state and central governments to set up a committee at the censor board to screen such historical films,” he said on Monday of the film.

Just hours later, Awhad tweeted the comment, before attacking the theatre. “The tradition of narrating wrong history related to Shivaji was introduced by (late historian) Babasaheb Purandare. This is being carried forward by a few people in the film industry. We will oppose it and we are thankful for stand taken by Sambhajiraje,” said Awhad.

Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who heads the home department, objected to the hooliganism, saying, “Everybody has the right to raise objection in a democratic manner on any issue. Attacking people by gatecrashing theatres will not be tolerated and action will be taken against the culprits.”

Mumbai-based political analyst Hemant Desai said, “There was no reason to object the film which has been passed by the censor board. Also, how can the NCP, led by Sharad Pawar, who stood by freedom of expression all his life, attack patrons. It is nothing but politics and the party has gained from it in the past. Out of the power, the NCP has adopted a short-cut to win over electoral support by raising such emotive issues.”


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