Nawab Shamsher Bahadur's descendants upset with Panipat movie over wrong portrayal, dialogues

Correspondent

NewsBits.in

BHOPAL: The descendants of the Nawab of Banda, Shamsher Ali Bahadur, who had fought in the battle of Panipat, as part of Maratha confederacy, against Abdali's forces, are angry with the portrayal of historical characters in the movie Panipat.

They are particularly upset with a dialogue that is deemed 'offensive' and purportedly targets Mastani Sahiba, the wife of Peshwa Baji Rao and the mother of Nawab of Banda Shamsher Bahadur. 

After Shamsher Bahadur was killed, his son Nawab Ali Bahadur--the Nawab of Banda, had also remained opposed to British. The descendants of the Nawab of Banda's family had to pay heavily due to their constant opposition to British. They had also supported Rani of Jhansi Laxmi Bai. 

The descendant, Shadab Ali Bahadur, who lives in Bhopal, says that a dialogue that 'Peshwa brings a Mastani after every battle' is derogatory to Peshwa, the Maratha culture and is a distortion of history as well as facts. He says that the director hasn't replied yet to the objection.

Shadab Ali Bahadur also gives other examples (on the basis of trailer and reports) to stress that the movie hasn't done justice to the real story. He feels that not a well-known actor was given the role of Shamsher Bahadur, who is one of the central characters in this part of history. 

"It is not fair to turn historical facts into fiction", said Shadab Ali Bahadur. In fact, in the recent Rashtriya Kshatriya Jansansad (RKJ) meeting too, Ashutosh Gowariker's movie Panipat was opposed recently. It ws said that the experts of Maratha culture have not been consulted and they the participants claimed that, 'it is apparent from the initial reports and trailer that it is more an attempt to distort history, turning it into a spicy novel'.

They also said that in no way distortion of history would be tolerated and if objections aren't taken care of, there would be protests and steps to stall release of the movie. The third battle of Panipat was fought in 1761 AD and it has remained one of the most important wars that changed the course of Indian history. Sanjay Dutt is playing the role of Abdali in the movie.

[Photo: Shadab Ali Bahadur, the descendant of Nawab of Banda]