Mumbai: Amid the row over Sanjay Leela Bhansali's film "Padmavati", writer Apurva Asrani said an artist's interpretation of a historical or mythological work has a right to exist, irrespective of the content. Asrani extended his support to the film "S Durga", which was dropped from the ongoing International Film Festival of India 2017.   

He said he finds it "ridiculous and extremely self- defeating" when explanations like "first you watch the film and then decide" are offered by filmmakers to placate the protesting groups. "I find the need to offer explanations like 'Have you ever seen one shot of Padmavati before calling for a ban/beheading' quite ridiculous and extremely self-defeating", said Asrani in a Facebook post.   

"No matter what the content, an artists interpretation of a historical/mythological figure has every right to exist. Threats and violence don't! If people don't like the content, they simply shouldn't watch it.' The "Aligarh" screenwriter said, "And if their faith is shaken by a mere film, then they need to examine if they even had it in the first place."   

Asrani ended his post by saying, "Let's fight the real fight!"  Malayalam movie "S Durga" and Marathi movie "Nude" were recently in news after the ministry of information and broadcasting dropped them from the Indian Panorama Section of IFFI.   Asrani was part of the jury and later resigned along with jury chairman Sujoy Ghosh and Gyan Correa.