NEW DELHI: The India release of Oscar-nominated film "The Voice of Hind Rajab", based on the story of the five-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli forces in 2024, is stuck in limbo as the distributor is still awaiting a censor certificate.
The movie, which was nominated in the best international film category at the 98th Academy Awards earlier this month, was acquired for release in India as well as Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Afghanistan and Bangladesh by distributor Manoj Nandwana of Jai Viratra Entertainment Limited.
Nandwana said the film was screened before the Central Board of Film Certification recently and they didn't find anything objectionable in it. The screening was held in late February when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on a two-day state visit to Israel.
"The committee said it is a very sensitive film and we have good relations. The screening was held when PM Narendra Modi was in Israel.
"We cannot play the film here because of the India-Israel relationship... We had a screening with the censor board and as you know, if there is any cut, they suggest that. But this film has no violence, nudity or any political dialogues," Nandwana told PTI.
According to Nandwana, the film has been sent to the revising committee but he does not have much hope.
"The film has been sent to the revising committee. I am not sure when it will be formed. The film will be outdated by then. There is no point in having false hope when they have given the basic reason that, according to them, the film is against Israel," he added.
Nandwana said that when films are typically screened for the censor board, a list of suggested cuts is provided, but in this case there was no such communication, except for a verbal indication that the film was considered sensitive.
PTI reached out to the CBFC and its chairperson Prasoon Joshi for a comment but did not receive a response till the time of filing this report.
Written and directed by Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, "The Voice of Hind Rajab" recounts the real story of Hind Rajab, who was fleeing Gaza City in January 2024 with her family when their car came under fire from Israeli forces.
The docudrama is told from the perspective of Palestinian Red Crescent volunteers, who stay engaged with the frightened child as she describes how all her cousins in the car were already dead and keeps pleading with the volunteers to not abandon her.
The film features the actual voice of Hind Rajab, who could not be rescued. Her body was found 12 days later alongside those of her relatives and two volunteers sent to bring her to safety.
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor reacted to the film's certification hurdles in a post on X, calling it "pretty disgraceful".
"In a democracy, screening a film is a reflection of our society’s freedom of expression and has nothing to do with government to government relations. This practice of banning films or books because of the offence they might cause to foreign countries must stop immediately. It’s unworthy of a mature democracy. #HindRajab," he wrote.
NCP (SP) leader Anish Gawande said the "ban" on “The Voice of Hind Rajab” in India is a "blot on our collective conscience".
"Those who claim to uphold the values of Gandhi are parroting the policy of Goebbels. Will looking away, shutting our eyes, prevent us from being complicit in the horror unleashed in Gaza?" he posted on X.
"The Voice of Hind Rajab" had its world premiere in the main competition of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival in September 2025, where it won the Grand Jury Prize and received a 23-minute standing ovation. It also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The film has some of the biggest names from the world of cinema on board as executive producers -- Hollywood stars Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, Oscar-winning filmmakers Alfonso Cuaron and Jonathan Glazer.
In an interview with PTI earlier this month, Hania said she felt compelled to make a film on Hind Rajab and take her voice to every corner of the world so that people cannot look away from what happened to her.
“It's a story that we should remember and think about. In the stream of media and social media, it's one small thing, a drop of water... I needed to take this voice out of this noise and to put it in a place where people can sit, take the time, have the attention, listen to her voice, remember and maybe do something," she said.
"The Voice of Hind Rajab" is not the only internationally acclaimed film to have run into certification trouble with the CBFC.
British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri's 2024 movie "Santosh", which was the UK's official entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 97th Academy Awards, after it failed to obtain a certificate from the CBFC.
The Hindi-language film, set in north India, follows a widow who joins the police force and investigates the murder of a Dalit girl. Despite no theatrical release in India, a planned streaming debut on Lionsgate Play in October 2025 also did not happen.