A film barely days old already has people picking sides. Ajay Devgn-starrer upcoming ‘Chauhaan’, fresh off its teaser drop, now finds itself caught in a row that has nothing to do with box office numbers and everything to do with history, identity, and who gets to tell a story.
The trouble started when the Kshatriya Parishad, an organisation representing Rajput interests, took to X on Monday with a statement that did not hold back. They say the makers, including director Neeraj Yadav and star Ajay Devgn, are using the Chauhan name to serve political ends.
They called the move an attempt to appropriate the Chauhan clan identity for what they described as contemporary communal politics. According to them, Rajput history does not belong on a campaign trail or inside a manufactured media storm.
We strongly condemn the attempt by Neeraj Yadav and Ajay Devgn’s upcoming film Chauhaan to appropriate the Chauhan clan name for contemporary communal politics.
Rajput history is not a political prop. The legacy of the Chauhans belongs to Rajput history , not to electoral… pic.twitter.com/nDRRKoikv4
— Kshatriya Parishad (@kshatriya_org) June 29, 2026
The group went further, framing the entire episode as part of a larger pattern. They argued that Rajput identity keeps getting pulled into political conversations the community never asked to be part of.
History is not black and white, they say
They are not just upset about representation. They are pushing back against what they see as a flattened, oversimplified version of India’s past.
The organisation said reducing centuries of complex history into a simple us versus them narrative shows a lack of understanding of how things actually unfolded. To back this up, they brought up documented moments where Rajputs and Afghans stood on the same side of a battlefield, not opposite ends of one.
So what is ‘Chauhaan’ actually about
Strip away the controversy and what remains is a film that marks a fairly big moment for Ajay Devgn. This is his first time working with director Aanand L Rai.
The first look dropped on June 25, and it set the tone immediately. The teaser opens in Kashmir, and it does not ease viewers in gently. Stone pelting, clashes between militants and security forces, a region on edge. That is the world Devgn’s character steps into. He plays ‘Chauhaan’, a man handed the job of putting down an insurgency and pulling a fractured region back from the brink.
‘Chauhaan’ is scheduled to arrive in theatres on October 1, 2027.