6 Banned Indian Movies

There are a lot of movies which have run into troubles for being too different from the rest of the films, and presenting violence or sex in a way only few has painted. Such films get banned by the ‘moral guardians’, to keep the world safe.

“Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself.” – Potter Stewart (former US Supreme Court Justice)

• Unfreedom (2014) – One of the boldest movies to come from India was denied release in India. The heartbreaking finale scene at Police Station is shocking enough but it was the sex-nude scene, before that scene, which made the censor board ban this film. Raj Amit Kumar, refused the Censor Board proposed cuts and appealed against the Censor Board’s demand for cuts to the Indian Government’s Information and Broadcasting Appellate Tribunal FCAT. Later, the authorities completely banned the film regardless of cuts.

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  Black Friday (2007) – Anurag Kashyap’s movie movie faced a stay order from The Bombay High Court because the 1993 Bombay blasts case and remained slated-to-release until the trial got over. It is based on Black Friday – The True Story of the Bombay Bomb Blasts, a book by Hussain Zaidi about the 1993 Bombay bombings. Indian Censor Board did not allow it to be released in India for three years and was finally released on 9 February 2007.

• Kama Sutra (1996) – The film is directed by Mira Nair. The film was banned in India because of the erotic scenes that contained heterosexual as well as homosexual and Lesbian elements. It was also nominated for the Golden Seashell award at the 1996 San Sebastián International Film Festival.

• Gandu (2010) – Gandu was an official selection at the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival and was also screened at the Slamdance Film Festival. The Bengali movie was a rap musical which created a lot of controversy for its nudity and language which crossed all boundaries of nudity in Indian movies.

• Inam / Ceylon (2013) – The story revolves around a group of teenagers in an orphanage set during the civil war in Sri Lanka, is directed by Santosh Sivan. Following protests from Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (TDMK) activists, who had attacked a theater in Pondicherry, stating the film projects the Sri Lankan Civil War in bad light. Then Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam politician Vaiko severely criticized the film for being pro-Sinhalese, the production company withdraw the film from theaters from 31 March 2014 onwards.

• Fire (1996) – The film is loosely based on Ismat Chugtai’s 1942 story, Lihaaf (The Quilt). Shiv Sanaik activists attacked a theatre in Mumbai, burning posters and shouting slogans. Bajrang Dal workers with lathis invaded Rajpalace and Rajmahal in Surat, breaking up everything in sight and driving away frightened audiences. Shiv Sena party members said the film was targeted because it was an “immoral and pornographic” film “against Indian tradition and culture.” The film released on 26 February with numerous cut and not before two months of protests and re-examinations.

There are more-than-few more and I am yet to be lucky enough to see those. Eg: Parzania (2005), Firaaq (2008) and Water (2005). These films allegedly not released by many cinemas due to political pressure.