After riots and death threats, Bollywood film ‘Padmaavat’ opens to applause

The Delhi cinema resembled a fortress but the owners were not taking chances – riot police and iron barricades were preferable to Hindu mobs storming the ticket booth and attacking patrons.

Film buffs arriving for the opening day of Padmaavat – a Bollywood epic that has enraged Hindu radicals – had to manoeuvre past machine guns, riot shields and blockades to watch the controversial flick.

The precautions may have appeared overkill in the busy commercial district of India’s capital.

But an orgy of violence by fanatics convinced the film insulted a legendary Hindu queen has forced cinema owners to take extreme measures.

Opponents – despite not having seen the film – claimed the film featured a romantic liaison between Padmavati and 14th-century Muslim ruler Alauddin Khilji, although filmmakers denied this repeatedly. Indeed, there was no such tryst. In fact, not a single scene brings the two characters face to face in the entire three-hour feature.