BJP condemns member who offered reward for Bollywood star’s head

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: India’s ruling party on Monday ordered one of its senior members to apologise publicly after he offered a reward for anyone who beheaded a Bollywood star of a movie whose portrayal of a Hindu queen and a Muslim conqueror has enraged Hindu activists.
Deepika Padukone, one of Bollywood’s biggest earners, is the lead actor of “Padmavati”, which is based on an epic poem. The film explores the relationship of a Hindu queen from the Rajput warrior clan and Muslim ruler Alauddin Khilji.
The movie was due to open on Dec. 1 but its producers postponed the release and two states, both ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), banned it outright. Modi’s party has asked Suraj Pal Amu, a senior member, why he offered 100 million rupees ($1.54 million) on the weekend to behead both Padukone and the movie’s director, Sanjay Leela Bhansali.