Not many people know that Sanjay Leela Bhansali waited for years before putting his one of the most ambitious projects Padmavati, or Padmaavat as it is to be called now. He wanted to cast Aishwarya Rai and Salman Khan but because of their alleged fallout, he couldn’t get them on board and waited for years before he found other apt actors. In fact, it is said that Aish had even agreed to play Rani Padmini on a condition that Salman will play the role of Allauddin Khilji as the two characters don’t share the screen space.

After almost two decades, putting in two years of efforts to make a brilliant project, he excitedly released the trailer last year and faced the backlash like never before. From facing assault on the sets of his own film to having bounties on his head, Sanjay Leela Bhansali has dealt with a lot of trauma in the past few months.

However, the fate of his film is still hanging in the balance. Earlier scheduled to be released on Dec. 1, the Deepika Padukone-Shahid Kapoor-Ranveer Singh starrer finally got the green signal from the censor board and is now slated to hit the screens on Jan. 25. Akshay Kumar has postponed his film Padman to make way for Padmaavat’s grand release. However, some states, despite Supreme Court’s order, are reluctant to screen the movie.

The protests have gone down a level that the women in Chittorgarh carried out a march. Joined by about 200 women, they appealed to ban the movie or be given the nod to end their lives. Furthermore, they have threatened if the movie’s release isn’t stalled, they will perform Jauhar on Jan. 24.