It is often said that blood, sweat and tears go into the creation of a true work of art. When it comes to Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmavati, it is no poetic exaggeration. A few days ago, blood was spilled yet again in a swordfight sequence being shot at Film City. This scene is apparently part of the impassioned climax, and both Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor were concentrating single-mindedly on delivering their realistic best. And that’s when the unthinkable happened… Apparently, the sword suddenly flew and ended up slashing Ranveer’s hand. Bleeding was instantaneous and the actor had to be rushed to hospital. This was not Ranveer’s first visit to the hospital during the filming of this epic of Rajput valour. The actor had previously received an injury to his head during a key sequence. He had been so engrossed in filming the scene that it’s only when he started bleeding from the head that everyone realised how badly he was hurt.

The price that the making of this period drama has extracted has been heavy. Early during the filming, a painter named Mukesh Dakia had fallen from a height while working on the set and met his death. Bhansali had condoled the loss of his life on set and also extended help to the victim’s family, but the unfortunate loss had considerably dampened spirits.
The film itself has come under repeated attacks. The sprawling sets in Kolhapur had been vandalised and set on fire by a mob of 30 people. Armed with petrol bombs, stones and lathis, they had fought off the security guards, damaged vehicles, set fire to the costumes and also torched the fodder for the horses.

This had come on the heels of an attack in January this year, when a group of angry protesters barged into Jaigarh fort in Jaipur and attacked Bhasali. Alleging that the film depicted wrong facts, they had vandalized the sets and viciously attacked the filmmaker, pulling him by his hair and slapping him in a gross violation that has surely left scars.
With Ranveer requiring therapy to throw off the cruel mental mantle of Sultan Alauddin Khilji, and Deepika reportedly being shaken badly by the johar scene in which women throw themselves into a burning pyre to protect their honour, Bhansali would surely not wish to relive all that went into the making of his magnum opus.