In what can only be described as a sad commentary of our times, the producer of the besieged film Padmavati, Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, has reportedly stopped the petition that Bollywood’s leading ladies were writing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last evening. Peeping Moon.com had exclusively reported that in a show of solidarity with Deepika Padukone and Padmavati, several Bollywood heroines were signing a petition that was to be urgently dispatched to Modi expressing the film industry’s angst over the death threats the actress was getting over the controversial film. The petition was inspired by the movement started by Shabana Azmi in support of Padmavati.

Now it is reliably learned the move was stopped by the already stressed out production house for fear that such a petition might upset the BJP governments in the country further. Already three BJP-governed states have banned Padmavati. These include Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and now Gujarat, which goes to the polls next month to elect a new government. Shabana had vociferously urged members of the film industry to “refuse to be puppets in the game of electoral gain, divisive politics and polarization”. The respected senior actress accused the BJP government at the Centre and some states of not doing enough to handle the protests against Padmavati.

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Shabana’s attack gathered steam and resulted in several Bollywood actresses deciding last evening to sign a petition to Modi complaining about the dismal security offered to women in the country. Shabana’s exhortation that “too much has happened and too repeatedly” and it had come to a “now or never situation” apparently stirred the film industry’s actresses into action. It is not known how the Modi government, which has so far not taken any side in the Padmavati row, might have reacted to such a petition. But the producer obviously fears the worst and has reportedly pleaded with the fringe group of outraged actresses not to take the matter further.