Sanjay Leela Bhansali is known for beautiful cinema. The first look revealed Deepika Padukone as Rani Padmini or better known as Padmavati.
Rani Padmini, also known as Padmavati, was a legendary 13th-14th-century Indian queen. The earliest source to mention her is Padmavat, an epic poem written by Malik Muhammad Jayasi in 1540 CE. It is through this text, Sanjay Leela Bhansali was inspired to make Padmavati.
The text, which features elements of fantasy, describes her story as follows: Padmavati was an exceptionally beautiful princess of the Sinhala kingdom. Ratan Singh, the Rajput ruler of Chittor, heard about her beauty from a talking parrot named Hiraman. After an adventurous quest, he married her and brought her to Chittor. Alauddin Khilji, the Sultan of Delhi also heard about her beauty and attacked Chittor to obtain her. Ratan Singh was killed in a combat with Devpal, the king of Kumbhalner who was also enamoured with Padmavati’s beauty. Before Alauddin Khilji could capture Chittor, Padmavati and her companions committed Jauhar (self-immolation) to protect their honour. However, several subsequent adaptions of the legend characterised her as a Hindu Rajput queen, who defended her honour against a Muslim invader.
Over years, she came to be seen as a historical figure and appeared in several novels, plays, television serials and movies. However, while Alauddin Khilji’s siege of Chittor in 1303 CE is a historical event, the legend of Padmini has little historical basis but through poetry and adaptions we learnt about this 13th Century Queen.
Padmavati is all set to release on 1 December 2017.