Ajay Devgn and director Neeraj Yadav are facing intense pushback following the announcement of their upcoming action film Chauhaan. On Monday, the Kshatriya Parishad issued a sharp public statement explicitly condemning the filmmakers. The Rajput organization accused the production of weaponising their history to fuel contemporary communal politics and build electoral narratives.
The controversy ignited shortly after the film’s official teaser dropped on June 25, marking the birth anniversary of Devgn’s late father, Veeru Devgan. Set during a 2018 stone-pelting riot in Pulwama, Kashmir, the high-octane promo shows the Indian Army struggling to control protesters. Devgn’s titular Rajput character eventually arrives to take charge, delivering the line: “Pathaanon se kehna, Chauhaan aa raha hai.”
The Kshatriya Parishad firmly rejected the film’s attempt to impose simplistic communal binaries on regional history. In their statement on X, the organization warned against using Rajput heritage as bait for divisive political debate. They noted that historical alliances were built entirely on statecraft rather than religious identity, pointing to figures like Mahmud Lodi fighting under Maharana Sanga to disprove the narrative pushed by the film.
The backlash extends beyond historical organizations and into mainstream Bollywood circles. Actor Swara Bhasker criticized a specific controversial voiceover in the teaser that claimed pellet guns cause only minimal damage. Bhasker condemned the insensitivity of the dialogue, calling pellet guns a gross human rights violation and describing the project as the Vivek Agnihotri-fication of Bollywood.
Produced by Jio Studios and Colour Yellow Productions, Chauhaan is currently slated for a theatrical release on October 1, 2027.