Madhya Pradesh Minister objects to Deepika Padukone’s costume in Pathaan

Narottam Mishra threatens to consider a ban on Pathaan in M.P., claiming that “polluted minds” are behind the filming of a hit song on the film, and that Ms. Padukone is a “supporter of the tukde-tukde gang”

Targeting actor Deepika Padukone for her costumes in her upcoming film Pathaan, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra on Wednesday hinted at a possible ban on the film in the State.

Referring to the film’s recently released track Besharam Rang, Mr. Mishra — who is the official spokesperson for the State government and has often taken aim at various films and filmmakers for what he considers “objectionable content” in the past — demanded that such “visuals be corrected”.

“The outfits that have been worn in the song are prima facie highly objectionable. It is clear that polluted minds are behind filming this song. In any case, Deepika ji has been a supporter of the tukde-tukde gang in the JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University) incident. That is why I would like to request that they should correct the visuals of the song, correct the costumes, or else the permission to release this film in MP should be given or not is a thinkable question,” Mr. Mishra told journalists.

The JNU reference was in the context of Ms. Padukone’s visit to the University in January 2020 to express solidarity with the students who were attacked by a mob a few days earlier.

With a cast that includes Shah Rukh Khan and John Abraham alongside Ms. Padukone, the film Pathaan is directed by Siddharth Anand and produced by Yash Raj Films and is slated to hit screens on January 25, 2023. The video of the aforementioned song was released earlier this week and since then, has raked in over 36 million views on YouTube.