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India is an avid consumer of all forms of content — be it books, art or movies, people are always looking for a good source of entertainment. Bollywood has also never refrained from experimenting and trying to show the audience something new every time they invite the audience to a theatre. However, more often than not some films have also irked the audience, resulting in backlash and bans. Many movies have been banned in India in the past, and sadly even after so many years of progress, we still often see the audience demanding bans and boycotts because very trivial reasons.
It was very recently when Deepika Padukone became a target for wearing a saffron-coloured bikini in Pathaan’s song — Besharam Rang. A section of the society asked for a ban on the film as it agitated them because she was wearing a bikini in a colour that is considered sacred in India. The rage was such that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) asked the makers of Shah Rukh Khan’s film to make alterations to the song. This was one of the many Deepika Padukone movies that have been asked to be banned in India by the audience for a trivial reason.
Not just the audience, the CBFC has banned movies in India earlier as well based on one strange reason or another. Explicit content, sexual scenes, and religious sentiments — these are a few reasons because of which several films got banned in India. Surprisingly, this list includes several Hollywood movies as well. While these films could not secure a release date in our country, they received global recognition and were lauded at film festivals and by critics. Several banned movies even released in India later after they travelled to film festivals. Let’s see which films are included in this list.
Banned movies in India: Fire, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and more
Director: Shekhar Kapur
Cast: Seema Biswas, Nirmal Pandey
Release date: 26 January, 1996
Why was it banned: This Shekhar Kapur movie was tagged as ‘offensive’, ‘vulgar’, and ‘indecent’. The movie was banned from release in India due to its explicit sexual content, nudity and harsh language. The Indian censor board too did not approve of the content.
(Image courtesy: IMDb)
Director: Deepa Mehta
Cast: Shabana Azmi, Nandita Das
Release date: 5 November, 1998
Why was it banned: Deepa Mehta’s film landed the renowned filmmaker in several controversies. Fire garnered a lot of appreciation globally, but back in India, it became a topic of rage and discussion. Hindu groups were agitated by the theme of the film. Fire talked about a lesbian relationship between two sisters-in-law in a Hindu family. Shabana Azmi, Nandita Das along with their director Deepa Mehta even received death threats. The film made it to theatres but was withdrawn after several protests. A few years later in 1999, the film was released without any cuts.
(Image courtesy: IMDb)
3
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Kama Sutra – A Tale Of Love
Director: Mira Nair
Cast: Naveen Andrews, Sarita Choudhury, Ramon Tikaram, Rekha, Indira Varma
Release date: 28 February, 1997 (United States)
Why was it banned: Mira Nair’s Kama Sutra – A Tale Of Love also came under the scanner. The country which gave birth to the very concept of Kama Sutra had an issue with the film’s release. Revolving around the lives of four lovers in the 16th century, the film was banned due to sexual content.
(Image courtesy: IMDb)
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Cast: Kay Kay Menon, Aditya Srivastava, Vijay Maurya, Joy Fernandes, Tejaswini Kolhapure
Release date: 2006 (Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles)
Why was it banned: Anurag Kashyap’s movies often land themselves in trouble for their controversial content. Based on the Joshi-Abhyankar serial murders in 1997, Paanch also saw the same fate. The high-octane thriller was banned from release in India because of the use of crass language and drug abuse.
(Image courtesy: IMDb)
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Cast: Kay Kay Menon, Aditya Srivastava, Pavan Malhotra, Kishor Kadam, Zakir Hussain
Release date: 13 August, 2004 (Locarno)
Why was it banned: Another Anurag Kashyap that was banned in India was Black Friday. The film was adapted from the famous book Black Friday – The True Story of the Bombay Bomb Blasts by S Hussain Zaidi. The Indian censor board considered the film to be too dark and received a stay order from The Bombay High Court because it mentioned the 1993 Bombay blasts and how the blast conspired.
(Image courtesy: IMDb)
6
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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Director: David Fincher
Cast: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgård
Release date: December 21, 2011 (United States)
Why was it banned: David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is one of the many Hollywood films that were banned in India. The film had adult scenes of rape and torture which the Central Board of Film Certification had a problem with. The board demanded that these scenes should be cut, but the director refused to do so.
(Image courtesy: IMDb)
Director: Rahul Dholakia
Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Sarika, Corin Nemec, Raj Zutshi, Parzan Dastur
Release date: 26 November, 2005 (film festival)
Why was it banned: The Gujrat riots were one of the scariest events to take place in India. Parzania revolved around a boy called Azhar who goes missing during the Gujarat riots in the year 2002. Public servants believed that the film may disrupt communal harmony in the state. The film won a National Award, but faced an unofficial ban after Bajrang Dal forced theatre owners to stop screening the film.
(Image courtesy: IMDb)
8
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Lipstick Under My Burkha
Director: Alankrita Shrivastava
Cast: Ratna Pathak, Konkona Sen Sharma, Aahana Kumra, Plabita Borthakur
Release date: October 2016 (Mumbai Film Festival)
Why was it banned: The movie created a lot of buzz and met with more than six dozen cuts before release. The film was banned as it talked about female desire and had some very explicit scenes. The film revolved around four female characters, across different age groups and how they explore their sexual desires without holding back.
(Image courtesy: IMDb)
Director: Raj Amit Kumar
Cast: Victor Banerjee, Adil Hussain, Bhanu Uday, Preeti Gupta
Release date: December 2014 (Kerala International Film Festival)
Why was it banned: A modern-day thriller, Unfreedom explored a lesbian love story which had an Islamic terrorism-related angle. The Censor Board banned the film for explicit nudity and the lovemaking scenes between the protagonists. The film was tagged as a medium for “igniting unnatural passions” and hence was denied release in India.
(Image courtesy: IMDb)
Director: Leslee Udwin
Release date: 4 March, 2015
Why was it banned: Directed by Leslee Udwin, India’s Daughter is a documentary film based on the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder of 23-year-old “Nirbhaya”. The television documentary was prevented from being aired by a stay order from a court. The court believed that the documentary perceived negative public sentiment including remarks defending the rape, resulting in an outcry from the audience. The movie was uploaded on YouTube but was later removed at the request of the Indian government.
(Image courtesy: IMDb)
11
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Fifty Shades of Grey
Director: Sam Taylor-Johnson
Cast: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Jennifer Ehle, Marcia Gay Harden
Release date: February 9, 2015 (Los Angeles)
Why was it banned: The film which had many explicit scenes including scenes of bondage and other elevated sexual scenes was banned in India. The film was not given a rating by the Censor Board, even after voluntary cuts.
(Image courtesy: IMDb)
Director: Chandraprakash Dwivedi
Cast: Sunny Deol, Sakshi Tanwar, Ravi Kishan, Saurabh Shukla
Release date: 16 November 2018
Why was it banned: The film talks about the commercialisation of the pilgrimage city Varanasi. CBFC did not allow the release of the film as it would hurt the religious sentiments of the people. However, in December 2017, Delhi High Court allowed the release of the film with one cut and adult certification.
(Image courtesy: IMDb)
Hero & Feature Image: Courtesy IMDb
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