The five-time National Award winner said that “putting a price on Deepika’s head is a criminal act.”

Veteran actor and five-time National Award winner Shabana Azmi urged the film industry to boycott the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) on Monday citing the threats to Deepika Padukone, Sanjay Leela Bhansali over the film Padmavati.

In a statement, she said that the “film industry needs to take a strong unified action and refuse to be sitting ducks any more.”

Here is her full statement:

The entire film industry, in one voice, must boycott IFFI Goa in protest against the threats issued to Deepika Padukone, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and Padmavati.

The Chief Minister of Rajasthan is sitting pretty. The first FIR lodged is under Arms Act because there was open firing; no action has been taken against the criminals threatening naked violence. Instead she and the CM of UP asking for a delay in Padmavati’s release because of law and order problems! But the first vow the CM took was to firmly clear the State of its criminal elements aur film ki release hone pey ghutne tika diye [and she is brought to her knees when the film is to release]?! Really, the States of UP and Rajasthan do not have the wherewithal to control criminals? Then they should vacate their seats for those who can!

CBFC sends film back because some paper formalities are not complete! They take recourse to some dormant rule that says only 63 days after the application is given will the film be screened for CBFC, and thus ensure that the Gujarat election is over and done with. Are we fools to not see through the design of fomenting unrest and polarising votes?

I am very angry. The film industry needs to take a strong unified action and refuse to be sitting ducks any more. If such threats had been made against any member of the political class, would the reaction have been the same? Are the people in the film industry not equal citizens of this country?

[Information and Broadcasting Minister] Smriti Irani is happily preparing for IFFI, which is possible only because the Indian film industry brings such acclaim to it, but keeps quiet about Padmavati? This is exactly like H.K.L. Bhagat and Congress celebrating IFFI in Delhi 1989 after the murder of Safdar Hashmi.

Please be reminded that I went up on stage then, and said that IFFI (where my film Madame Sousatzka was being premiered) was a façade, because the cultural activist Safdar Hashmi had been killed by Congress goons in broad daylight.

The canard that Javed and I are speaking now but kept silent when Taslima Nasreen was threatened is a LIE. Javed called Taslima and invited her to Mumbai. Both Javed and I went to fetch her at the airport (which she has gone on record to acknowledge), and held a public event where she was the chief guest.

This is not a partisan stand. There are legitimate ways of protest, and in a democracy, the right to dissent is an absolute right, provided it is done without violence. Putting a price on Deepika’s head is a criminal act and must be dealt with as such.

In a country that talks about Beti bachao beti padhao, it is horrifying that the government remains a mute spectator and is complicit in fanning more violence. The law of the land must prevail and the goons must be put behind bars.