With the banning of intimate sex scenes to censoring cuss words, the Indian Censor Board is well-known for its narrow mindset. We’re used to ‘banned by the government’ by now, but the Censor Board has always been infamous for its hypocritical approach to Indian movies. Moumita Chakraborty goes through Bollywood’s history and lists down the top five movies that were too flavourful for the Board’s delicate palates
BANDIT QUEEN
The very famous movie was banned by the censor board because they found it offensive, vulgar and indecent. Directed by Shekhar Kapoor and starring Seema Biswas, Bandit Queen showed the life of Phoolan Devi who was also known by the same moniker, detailing on how she was raped by the Thakurs and her eventual revenge on them, was banned as it enclosed explicit sexual content. The movie was later released in 1994 and won National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi, Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie and Best Direction that year
INSHALLAH FOOTBALL
This Indian drama film directed by Raj Amit Kumar is a documentary about a Kashmiri boy who aspires to travel abroad and become a famous footballer someday. However, the boy is deprived of travelling outside the country because his father is charged with militancy in the 1990s. The movie captured the irony of Kashmir’s physical beauty, the claustrophobia of militarisation, the anxiety and despondency of children born into war and the nuances of relationships. The movie talks about the inherent castism that is present in India.
UNFREEDOM
This 2015 movie is a modern day thriller that talks about a lesbian love story entangled within an Islamic terrorism-related angle. The story revolves around a Muslim fundamentalist who kidnaps a broad-minded Muslim scholar with an intention to kill, while a closeted lesbian in New Delhi kidnaps her
bisexual lover with the intent to love. Set in these two different cities, the film approaches sexuality and
violence head on with the focus on Muslim and LGBT identities. The two extreme taboos in a single movie got too much for the Censor Board.
SINS
Sins is an erotic journey of a Kerala priest who falls for the charms of a woman and gets sexually involved with her. The film also projected Catholicism in a very immoral light. The whole idea of the film is based on a news story that director and producer Vinod Pande read in 1988 about a Kerala priest sentenced to death on sexual harassment and murder charges.
THE PINK MIRROR
The Indian release title ‘Gulabi Aaina’ is an award-winning Indian drama produced and directed by Sridhar Rangayan. It portrayed the concept of trans-sexuality. It is said to be the first Indian film to systematically focus on Indian trans-sexuals with the entire story revolving around the two and a gay teenager’s attempt to seduce a man.
Volume 5 Issue 7
