A puja committee in Kolkata is likely to reap the countrywide controversy which Sanjay Leela Bhansali's film Padmaavat created. It has been decided that the Durga puja theme for Sreebhumi Sporting Club in the eastern fringe of Kolkata would be Padmaavat this year.

"We try to theme our puja around the most discussed topic of the year and this year Padmaavat has been one of the most talked-about issues. We have decided that the pandal would be erected along the lines of the palace of Chittor as shown in the film," said Sujit Bose, TMC MLA from Bidhannagar constituency, who is at the helm of the organising committee.

He said that last year, the theme was Bahubali 2.

"The pandal had drawn record audiences," he said. He did not want to divulge the spend on the pandal, but sources said that it usually goes over a crore rupees.

Bose said they would hold a press conference soon to formally announce the theme of the pandal.

Organisers said this year's theme would send out the message that Bengal believed in the freedom of speech and expression, and the basic right could not be throttled here, which they said was evident from the trouble-free screening of the film in the state. Lokendra Kalvi, patron of Rajput Karni Sena, the organisation which had initiated the agitation against the film, had said that they did not intend to put up a protest in Bengal.

Despite the intervention of the Supreme Court the film's release, originally scheduled for December 1, 2017, had to be deferred to January 26, 2018, but it could not be released in four BJP-ruled states. Elsewhere, though, Padmaavat proved to be a box-office hit.

Earlier on November 24, 2017, when the fate of the film was uncertain, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had welcomed makers of the film to Bengal.

"If they are unable to release the film in any other state, we are ready to make special arrangements for it in our state. Bengal will be happy and proud to do it. Sanjay Leela Bhansali and his Padmaavat team are welcome here," Mamata said at an event.