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Updated: Nov 24, 2017 22:42 IST

The Rajput Samaj of UK has scheduled a demonstration outside Parliament in Westminster on Sunday to protest against the controversial film Padmavati being cleared for distribution and exhibition in the United Kingdom.

Harendra Singh Jodha, secretary of the charity organisation, told Hindustan Times a protest had also been lodged with the British Board of Film Certification (BBFC), which cleared the film without any cuts and gave it a “12A” rating, meaning it is “not generally suitable for children aged under 12”.

“We want British authorities to understand how the new generations get a wrong or distorted version of historical icons, which would affect people in any country. We want the certification of Padmavati by BBFC to be revoked,” Jodha said.

A BBFC spokeswoman told Hindustan Times: "The BBFC makes all classification decisions in line with its published Classification Guidelines only. The BBFC does not take into account lobbying of any kind during the classification process.".

The issue has been discussed extensively by Jodha and others on MATV, a leading British Asian television channel.

According to BBFC’s certification, the film “is a Hindi language epic drama in which a Sultan leads an invasion to capture a Rajput Queen”. It contains “moderate violence, injury detail” and “some versions of this film are displayed in the 3D or IMAX format and some younger children may find them a more intense experience”.

Jodha’s protest letter to BBFC states: “The movie which claims historical tag is misleading and it is hurting sentiments of millions who revere Padmini as a mother in Indian society.

“In the name of artistic expression and freedom of speech, we must not allow anyone to malign the image of our national heroes. Commercial desires shouldn't override historical facts and national sentiments.

“We would like to register our strong protest against the issuance of 12A certificate to the movie, because the movie is full of misrepresentation of past and traditional inaccuracies. It's an artistic and historic fraud to generate more revenue.”

BBFC has mentioned the release date as December 1. “All known versions of this work passed uncut,” the BBFC said, adding that the film’s duration is 163 minutes and 42 seconds.

Jodha said his organisation plans to take legal recourse and stage a protest against the UK distributor of the film, Paramount Pictures.