To

The Honorable Chief Justice of Bombay High Court,

This petition kindly requests the Bombay High Court to issue a stay order on the release of a feature film titled ‘Bajirao Mastani’. The film, produced and directed by Mr. Sanjay Leela Bhansali, is scheduled to release on Friday 18th December 2015.

‘Bajirao Mastani’ is a historical film and narrates the story of great Maratha warrior Peshwa Bajirao and his second wife Mastani. These characters were real people who have been recorded in our rich history.

Based on certain scenes from the movie and the song ‘Pinga’ (released recently worldwide), the filmmakers appear to have seriously distorted history under the guise of cinematic liberty. This distortion has caused widespread outrage and the film’s entire release is expected to cause further anguish and hurt sentiments of history lovers and followers of the great Maratha warrior.

Allow us to highlight the disconnect and distortion between what is shown in the film and what is recorded in the history:

1. Film - The film shows Kashibai (first wife of Peshwa Bajirao) and Mastani (second wife of Peshwa Bajirao) dancing together in what appears to be a celebration of Mastani wearing the traditional Maharashtrian attire for the first time.

    Fact – Recorded history shows Kashibai was suffering from tuberculosis and arthritis which induced a limp. Even if Kashibai was healthy, she would never get into a dance routine as it was not part of the culture back then.

2. Film – The choreography of the song shows both, Kashibai and Mastani, performing a lavani in a song titled ‘Pinga’

    Fact – Pinga is a traditional song and dance routine performed by married women during the month of shravan for their manglagaur which is largely a females only event. While lavani is performed predominantly for a male audience and has sexual innuendos and overtones in the song lyrics and the dance moves.

3. Film – The song shows both Kashibai and Mastani wearing a ‘low-rise’ nauvaari (traditional Maharashtrian saree) showing ample skin during the entire sequence. The saree barely covered half the chest of both Kashibai and Mastani.

    Fact – The traditional Maharashtrian saree is draped in such a manner to cover the body without revealing skin or having any sexual overtones. The costumes shown in the song were never worn by royal families or even a normal women in those times.

4. Film – The dance shows Kashibai and Mastani merrily interacting with each and Kashibai admiring Mastani’s beauty.

    Fact – History clearly shows that Kashibai and Mastani met only once in their lifetime and that too in a formal setting.

5. Film – The film shows Mastani as a courtesan and a dancer.

    Fact – Documented history shows Mastani was a daughter of Raja Chatrasaal of Bundelkhand and always lived like royal women did of those times.

We shudder at the thought of what other offensive elements the film has to offer and which would deeply hurt our sentiments and present Peshwa Bajirao, Kashibai, Mastani and rest of the royal family in a distasteful manner. Kindly request the Honorable Chief Justice to contemplate if we, as a society, would want the future generations to look at this film and form their impressions about some of the most revered characters in Maratha / Peshwa history.

 Sincerely,

 A Proud Indian and A Common Man