In India, an alcohol bottle or a cigarette would be more than enough to provoke the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to either cut a scene or to ban a movie. Scenes having obscenity, sexually explicit contents, homosexuality, religious remarks are some serious things that a filmmaker has to keep in mind before its making. For CBFC, anything in a film that instigates law and order problems has to go through the censorship process.
In 2015, the story is entirely different as celebrities came forward saying that India is becoming intolerant under the BJP government. The resignation of former censor board chief Leela Samson and appointment of Pahlaj Nihalani in her place raised lot of questions since Nihalani has close connections to the ruling BJP. Many accused him for his prudish sentiments and for supporting the conservative beliefs of the government. The board even introduced a list of banned words and contents which was leaked later.
Here is a list of some movies that went through rigorous censorship process due to variety of reasons:
1. Spectre007
Spectre’s kissing scenes were censored by CBFC and ordered kissing scene between Daniel Craig and Monica Bellucci and Lea Seydoux to be cut by 50% for Indian release. Oscar winning filmmaker Sam Mendes’ Spectre was rated U/A in which four scenes were asked to cut by CBFC. #SanskariJamesBond started trending on twitter when CBFC decided to censor the film. Posters and memes trolling CBFC’s decision went viral taking this matter for further debate. Read more
2. Wazir
To avoid conflicts with CBFC, sensuous and passionate scenes between Farhan Akhtar and Aditi Rao Hydari were cut by the filmmakers themselves. Read more
3. Tamasha
A kiss between Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone in the film Tamasha was judged to be long by CBFC and advised to shorten the length of the scene. Certain words against women were also asked to censor. Read more
4. 50 Shades of Grey
50 Shades of Grey was not released in India due to censorship issue. The decision came as the board objected the use of some dialogues and nude scenes in the movie. Even after cutting the nudity, the board was not ready to release it for the Indian audience. Read more
5. Unfreedom
Unfreedom, an Indian movie was banned in India due to its homosexual theme along with religious fundamentalism. But the movie was released in North America.
Even the mention of ‘lesbian’ in the movie ‘Dum Lagake Aisha’ was asked to mute by CBFC only because it contained homosexual content. Read more
6. Mastizaade
Sunny Leone starring Mastizaade had to wait for a long time to get censor certificate since the committee found the content to be unsuitable for public viewing with high sexual contents. Read more
7. The Painted House
The CBFC officials had problem with three shots in the Malayalam movie Chayam Poosiya Veedu/ The Painted House which depicted the character’s nudity and was asked to cut the scenes. Since the scenes were important to the theme of the movie, the directors refused to delete the scenes and movie was banned from screening for Indian audience. It was screened in 20 International Film festival of Kerala (IFFK). Read more
8. Dirty Politics
Mallika Sherawat starrer movie got an A certificate from censor board and it set another controversy when a petition was filed against the film where certain scenes were considered objectionable. The court banned its release and said that the film can be released only if those scenes are removed. Another case was filed against the actress as she was found draping the national flag for the film poster. Read more
9. Angry Indian Goddesses
The CBFC strongly objected to the contents in the movie and asked to chop off some scenes that were considered to be disrespectful to Indian goddesses. It was also said that the role of actress Tannishtha Chaterjee was ‘reduced to smithereens’ after the deletion of many scenes.
10. India’s Daughter
Leslee Udwin’s documentary based on the Nirbhaya gang rape incident of 16 December 2012 was banned by the censor board over concerns that the comments made by the rapists in the interview could create intense reaction form the public. It was aired ahead of its schedule on Youtube and later it was banned. Read more
Lots of other movies were banned in India and CBFC advised to cut many scenes from various movies. At the same time, it’s the people who raise questions as to why the government is interested in what they see and it as an attack on the freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution of India.