Bollywood's Deepika Padukone Cancels Appearance With Ivanka Trump In India As Hindu Nationalists Put $1.5 Million Bounty On Her Head

Deepika Padukone's movie 'Padmavati' has resulted in death threats and a bounty of $1.5 million for her beheading or death and that of the director Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Deepika Padukone & Sanjay Leela Bhansali

In India, the highly-anticipated release of the movie 'Padmavati' has been delayed after a politician from India's governing party has offered a bounty of $1.5 million for the heads of Deepika Padukone, Bollywood's highest-earning actress, who plays the 14th century Hindu queen -- and also the movie's director Sanjay Leela Bhansali. 

Padmavati is a fictional queen in the epic poem 'Padmavat' by 16th-century poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi. The poem was written more than 200 years after the actual invasion and was absolutely impacted by folklore. 

The poem elevated the virtue of Padmavati, who committed sati, in which a widow immolates herself on her husband's funeral pyre in order to protect her honor. Initially sati was practiced after Hindu men were defeated in battle and to avoid being taken by Muslim men. Like so many customs, the act of sati -- or committing suicide by fire with the death of the husband -- came to be seen as an act of devotion. The custom was outlawed by India's British rulers in 1829 following demands by Indian reformers.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has courted Hindu nationalists as part of his political base -- as has Donald Trump. In the US presidential election, Hindu nationalists were burning images of Hillary Clinton in the streets. 

It takes very little to set off India's Hindu right wing. In this case, WaPo writes:

Members of the Rajput Karni Sena, a group associated with the warrior Rajput caste, claim it misrepresents history by depicting a love affair between the queen and a Muslim invader. The group is further upset that the queen's midriff is exposed in a song sequence. They have called for a nationwide strike and backed the death threats against star Deepika Padukone and the film's director, Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

Yet director Phansali insists that the plot has no such love scene and the movie trailer deeply honors Rajput bravery and how they resisted Muslim armies. 

On Monday India's Supreme Court rejected another plea demanding a stay on the film's release, stating that the Censor Board -- not trying to work out the dispute -- must be allowed to do its job. 

The death threats received a quick backlash, denounced by leaders of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP. The home minister in the southern Karnataka state, Ramalinga Reddy, ordered protection for Padukone and her family.

“It’s absolutely appalling. What have we gotten ourselves into? And where have we reached as a nation?” said the Deepika Padukone, then adding.  “We have regressed . . . The only people we are answerable to is the censor board, and I know and I believe that nothing can stop the release of this film.”

The Washington Post continues, noting that a member of the Rajput Karni Sena group, Mahipal Singh Makrana, responded in a self-made video, saying, “Rajputs never raise a hand on women, but if need be, we will do to Deepika what Lakshman did to Surpanakha,” referring to a Hindu epic in which a man cuts off a woman's nose. The group has also vandalized cinemas, burned posters and threatened to break the legs of actor Ranveer Singh, who plays villainous Muslim invader Alauddin Khilji.

The furor coincides with a glam event in the Indian city of Hyderabad headlined by Ivanka Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Trump, accompanied by her husband Jared Kushner, is scheduled to address the inaugural session of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GED) on November 28. Deepika Padukone has now withdrawn from the event intended to launch a whirlwind weekend showcasing India's modernity and desirability as a forum for investment. 

The Trump presidential campaign and now the administration has consistently courted right-wing nationalists due to their anti-Muslim fervor. Over the course of the 2016 campaign, the right-wing Hindu nationalists multiple times burned images of Hillary Clinton in the street. Like most right-wing groups, men rule.