The Karni Sena has been protesting against the way the film depicts the warrior queen, Rani Laxmibai, allegedly depicting her in a relationship with a British officer, as well as performing a dance number
There are a few days yet to Manikarnika's release, but there's an equal amount of drama brewing off screen, with actor-director Kangana Ranaut and the Karni Sena at loggerheads.
The Karni Sena has been protesting against the way the film depicts the warrior queen, Rani Laxmibai, allegedly depicting her in a relationship with a British officer, as well as performing a dance number.
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On Saturday, the Karni Sena warned Kangana that if she continues to voice dissent against the outfit, they will ruin her career prospects and burn her film sets. This comes a day after Kangana issued a statement saying she will destroy the Karni Sena if they continue to harass her over the release of Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi.
In reports, Kangana has said that they should know that she is a Rajput, and if they do not stop harassing her, she will destroy each one of them. The Karni Sena has hit back saying Kangana's threats will result in her not being able to walk freely in Maharashtra.
This language needs to be discouraged on both sides. Both sides may deny having said all this, but we need an immediate de-escalation of the issue. Once a film has received the green signal from the censors, organisations should not try to stop release or issue threats against actors, just because they are high-visibility targets.
Much of this aggressive jousting is completely unwanted and, in fact, totally unnecessary. Let the censors do their job and, if there is any objection, a peaceful protest may be in order.
Unfortunately, these high-voltage, verbally violent sideshows are becoming more frequent. Inflammatory rhetoric and intimidation should end quickly, before they hijack the movie and obfuscate the piece of art itself.
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