Maharashtra’s folklore does not have a love story as intricate as Bajirao and Mastani’s saga. It has been written as novels and made into films earlier as well, but it had not courted any controversy of the intensity that Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s artwork has. Bhansali should be able to release the uncut version of his film because the agitation is unlikely to culminate into violent attacks on cinema halls and the people who made it. The screening is unlikely to face protests that a Marathi play ‘Ghashiram Kotwal’ was subjected to four decades ago.

It will be premature to predict the fate of Bhansali’s Bajirao-Mastani before it opens to the audience. But considering the lack of nuisance value on the part of the descendants of Peshwas and Mastanibai — who are not supported by any influential social organisation or political party — the filmmaker has already won the battle. Bhansali may just go ahead with a disclaimer that his movie isn’t a historical account, instead of dropping the songs that are termed objectionable by the upset families.