Dancer Vaishnavi Patil Booked During Performance Inside Lal Mahal In Pune

The Pune Police has filed an FIR against Marathi dancer Vaishnavi Patil and two others for a video showing them performing a dance on a Lavani number inside the premises of Lal Mahal. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj had spent several years of his early life over there. Political organisations, including the NCP, bashed the dance video and made Vaishnavi apologise, as per reports. 

Popular in Maharashtra, Lavani is a combination of traditional song and dance, which is particularly performed to the beats of Dholki, a percussion instrument. Noted for its powerful rhythm, Lavani has given substantial contributions to the Marathi folk theatre. In Maharashtra and southern Madhya Pradesh, it is performed by women wearing nine-yard long sarees. With songs, sung in a quick tempo, Lavani is looked down on for its "sensuous moves."

Suggested Reading: #SareeTwitter: Indian Women Show Saree Is The New Sexy

Who Is Vaishnavi Patil?

Vaishnavi Patil is a celebrity dancer with more than 40 lakh viewers on her YouTube channel. She is also the winner of many dance reality shows like DID, Jhalak, Dholkichya Talavar, India's Got Talent, Nachle Ve, and Etv Super Dancer.

Vaishnavi Patil is a 23-year-old dancer hailing from Pune, Maharashtra. She started her career on TV: Boogie Woogie (2009). Apart from dancing, along with her sister, Girija, she founded a dance academy called Kalarpini at Kothrud, a residential neighbourhood in the city of Pune.

In 2013 reports, over a month after the construction of the 13th Century Lal Mahal in Nizamuddin, many conservationists claim that little of the original building is retained. It was in 2008 when union culture minister Ambika soni alleged that builders destroying the monument partially. She reached out to the Archeological Survey Of India for a report on this matter

Also known as Kushaki Lal, Lal Mahal was said to have been built by Ghiyassudin Balban between 1266-1286 in south Delhi’s Nizamuddin Basti. Under the regime of sharing of powers between the centre, state and local bodies in Delhi, INC's then minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit neither had direct control over the municipal corporation nor over the police. Having its own set of elected representatives, the municipal body had its Mayor at the top, and the police came under the Union home ministry through Lieutenant Governor Tejendra Khanna.