new delhi on the day when one of the most controversial movies of recent times released for public viewing cops in the capital barricaded the entrances to most theatres and allowed entry only after a thorough frisking most viewers were drawn to the cinemas after the violent protests against padmaavat a film centred on royal characters from 13th century indialike others her curiosity piqued more by the controversy than an abiding interest in history suhani chawla a student went to a theatre in rohini where she saw padmaavat amid tight police arrangements the movie did not seem controversial at all on the contrary it displayed rajput culture in good light the storyline was unique she said afterwardsmost of those who thronged the cinema halls admitted to having been influenced by the constant reference to the film on the news channels arushi minj a student who was with her friends at a theatre in daryaganj wanted to find out what had led to what she described as outrageous protests across india people vandalising vehicles and threatening people all for what a movie minj mutteredlike her pranav singh was at a cinema hall in connaught place to learn what the ado was all about i wanted to judge for myself if the chaos was invited by the moviemakers or the protests were politically motivated said singh at shahdara architecture student amit sharma too said he wouldnt know what the chaos was about if he didnt see padmaavat while his friend nagaraju korupolu added if the movie has been cleared by every authority why are the fringe groups creating so much panic and ruckus there was of course a sense of unease at the cinemas apart from the security arrangements made by the theatre owners some of whom avoided putting up the films posters outside their buildings there was heavy police presence to avert any violencei realise that the situation is risky but i am a huge fan of all the stars in the movie and there was no way i could miss it said shivani bansal a student outside a central delhi theatre and there were others like paras khatri who were interested in padmaavat even before controversy overtook it i decided to watch the movie immediately on seeing its trailer said khatri at laxmi nagar a movie is for entertainment and it should always be treated that way what does one get by harming innocent people in the name of community pride