What led to the release of Padmavati being postponed from its due date of December 1? Was it the decision of producers Bhansali Productions and Viacom18 Motion Pictures to screen the movie for influential news anchors and rally their approval even before the censor board could offer its opinion? Or were the Gujarat elections due on December 9 and 14 responsible?

Padmavati’s many detractors – the Rajput caste organisation, the Karni Sena, at the fore – would argue that the film’s fate was sealed by its audacity in attempting to depict the legend of Alauddin Khilji’s raid of Chittor to sate his lust for the queen Padmini. Though historians have established that the tale is a myth, Rajput groups claimed that director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film was a distortion of their history. They have won the debate, at least for now.