Sanjay Leela Bhansali insures ‘Padmavati’ amid protests by some fringe groups!

Right from its announcement, Sanjay Leela Bhansali ’s magnum opus Padmavati has been mired in one or the other controversy. When the filmmaker began shooting for the film in Jaipur last year, a fringe group called Karni Sena attacked the director and ransacked the entire set of the movie. That wasn’t an end to his and his team’s problems as they had to face the similar kind of attack when they were canning some important scenes in the district of Kolhapur in Maharashtra. Looking back at the history of violence by the communal groups who are offended by the subject of the movie, the makers have insured the film.

A unit member told a leading daily, "As a policy, studios insure films, and Padmavati also happens to be insured." It's said that the insurance sum for Padmavati is in excess of Rs 160 crore, but the distribution cover sum insured is yet to be declared. Sumant Salian of a leading insurance company, "There is a policy, which covers loss of ticketing revenue due to riots, strike, malicious damage."

A senior executive from a cinema chain added, "Exhibitors will not take the risk of showing a film if there is a threat or possibility of rioting as it seems likely in the case of ‘Padmavati’. Damage to their properties can prove to be very expensive if enough police protection is not made available. As of today, there are three states where protests against the films are gaining momentum."

Though insuring films in India is not a trend yet, it was first done by veteran filmmaker Subhash Ghai . Ghai insured his film ‘ Taal ’. It also set a precedent for other producers to get their films insured. Taal, which released in 1998, was reportedly insured for a sum of Rs 12 crore with United India Insurance.

' Padmavati ' starring Deepika Padukone , Ranveer Singh , Shahid Kapoor in the lead is all set to hit the screens across India and the US on December 1st.