The raging debate on Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Padmavati is not about the content of the movie. Those who protest against the film's release don't know anything about the script of the film or the way the movie was planned by its makers or even how the lead actors — Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh — were going to play their respective roles of Padmavati, Maharana Raval Ratan Singh and Alauddin Khilji when the team originally landed in Jaipur for the shoot. What subsequently happened is now history.

The real story behind the protests by the Rajput Karni Sena originated from something else — clash of inflated egos. In an exclusive Facebook Live with Firstpost, the man who is leading the rally against the release of Padmavati, patron of Karni Sena Lokendra Singh Kalvi said it all began with a rather trivial statement made by Singh during an interaction with the media when shooting for the movie was about to begin. According to Kalvi, Singh, responding to a question whether he was playing the role of a villain in the movie, said that he could go two notches beyond playing the role of a villain if he is given two intimate scenes with the lead female character in the film. Someone sent that clipping to Karni Sena in Rajasthan.