Did Deepika Padukone ask Sanjay Leela Bhansali to put Padmaavat on hold?

Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone delivered her career-best performance in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Padmaavat'. 

In an exclusive interview to India Today, the suave actress said that how she, at one point of time, advised filmmaker Bhansali to put the movie on hold after she saw the movie embarked into protests by Rajput community members. 

However, she stated that she was not afraid of threats that came her way. 

"When we were shooting the film, or specifically when I was shooting for the film, there were only two incidents that happened. I had told Sanjay sir at that point - considering the fact that this in a way was a turning point in my career in terms of the budget and scale and success of the film - even then I was willing to put this on hold to fight a much larger cause."

"I had told Sanjay sir that something didn't feel right. It is not that people had not had issues with earlier films. Shabana (Azmi) ji's films have had issues in the past but this to me right from the very beginning just felt very different. It is not the usual disappointment, protest or anger that people have felt before for certain films, it was something different," Deepika told India Today. 

'Padmaavat', starring Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh, is based on the 16th-century epic, 'Padmaavat' by poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi. The film was released on January 25 in India after the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) cleared it last month with a 'U/A' certificate and five modifications, including title change from 'Padmavati' to 'Padmaavat'.

The period drama was marred by controversies the time it went into production. Several Rajput groups accused Bhansali of 'distorting historical facts' with the portrayal of queen Padmavati, a claim repeatedly denied by him.

During the shooting of the film, the 'Padmaavat' set was attacked by a fringe group in Jaipur. Bhansali was assaulted by the Karni Sena on a film set. In October, a rangoli of the first poster released from the film, that reportedly took almost 48 hours to create, was destroyed by a group of around 100 people shouting religious slogans. 

Subsequently, several violent threats, from burning down theatres that screened the controversial movie to announcing a bounty on Deepika and Bhansali's head were also announced by Karni Sena members.