12 Movies The Moral Police Didn’t Want Us To Watch Even Though The Censor Board Cleared Them

We, Indians, are brilliant at taking offence. Whether it’s the neighbouring aunty’s sense of morals or a group’s looking down upon a film which criticises/doesn’t subscribe to the sanskaar code of Indian morals – we’ll take offence to anything.

Here are 12 films which got passed by the Censor Board, but had to bear the brunt of an overly enthusiastic moral police.

1. Padmavati

The Karni Sena vandalised the film set and assaulted director Bhansali.

Harassed and assaulted by the Karni Sena, Bhansali has been dealing with the controversy surrounding his upcoming film for nearly a year and a half now. Some groups got mad at the film because of a rumour that there was a dream sequence which implied a romance between Rani Padmavati & Alauddin Khilji – in spite of a written confirmation that no such scene exists. One of the film sets were also vandalised in the form of a protest.

2. Bajirao Mastani

The descendants of Peshwa Bajirao disliked the portrayal of their ancestor marrying a Muslim princess.

There were reports that the descendants of Peshwa Bajirao and certain groups were unhappy with the romance between the legendary Maratha warrior and a Muslim princess. There were similar protests and they tried to get the film banned, but only after repeated assurances that the story was filmed tastefully, did the protestors calm down.

3. Jodhaa Akbar

Many Rajput factions took offence to the dramatic license used to film a love song between Akbar and Jodha Bai.

The romance between the Mughal emperor Akbar and Rajput princess Jodha Bai, is the stuff of legends. But the descendants of the princess took offence to some of the dramatisation of the love story, especially a love song (In Lamhon Ke Daaman Mein) between Hrithik and Aishwarya, who were playing the lead characters. The film didn’t get screened in parts of Rajasthan for the portrayal of romance.

4. Water

Hindu extremist groups wouldn’t let the director shoot the atrocities upon the widows of Varanasi.

Deepa Mehta’s second film on the widows of Varanasi, weren’t allowed to shoot on the banks of the Ganga. Several Hindu extremist groups threatened and vandalised the sets of the film, after which the crew had to go shoot in Sri Lanka.

5. Fire

That rare Indian film on lesbianism, was burned out of theatres as it happened to hurt Hindu sentiments.

One of India’s first few films to recognise the homosexual relationship between two women, was not allowed to play in theatres. Sanskaar brigade came and destroyed any theatre playing this movie, which was apparently against Indian culture. It was brave on the part of Nandita Das and Shabana Azmi to do such a movie, which was a sensitive look at two regular women addressing their sexuality within the pressures of Indian society.

6. P.K

Many groups were mad at Raju Hirani & Co. for ‘making fun of Hinduism’ as it pointed out the inconsistencies.

This Rajkumar Hirani film starring Aamir Khan, sees the actor venture into Indian society as an alien as he naively points out the hypocrisies in our daily life. It even strongly condemned blind faith and idol worship, which meant many theatres were burned and many properties damaged.

7. Sins

Catholic groups killed this movie, even though it was based on a true incident of a Kerala priest getting promiscuous with a young devout Christian girl.

Depicting a passionate love affair between a Catholic priest and a younger woman, this film invited the ire of Catholic boards from around the country. Even though the film was passed with an ‘A’ certificate, and distributed by Yash Raj Films, the film only managed the name of the film out as promotion, after a court ruling forbade them from using any visuals for promotional purposes.

8. OMG!

Same as PK much before the Aamir-starrer, this film was denounced by Hindu extremist groups.

Before P.K hit the screens, this Paresh Rawal-starrer challenged the basis of blind faith and the commercialisation of religion, which meant that many self-styled Godmen and their followers denounced the film and even wreaked havoc over the film’s release.

9. My Name Is Khan

SRK batted for Pakistani cricketers in IPL, and had to bear the brunt of the Shiv Sena and the MNS.

As an owner of an IPL cricket team, Shah Rukh Khan casually mentioned that players of Pakistan should be allowed to participate in the competition. It stirred a storm with Maharashtra political parties like Shiv Sena and MNS, which held the release of his upcoming film as hostage, threatening violence and even telling the actor to go to Pakistan.

10. Wake up Sid!

The film called the city ‘Bombay’ instead of ‘Mumbai’ and MNS obviously had a problem with that.

Johar’s first tryst with the MNS happened when this movie belonging to his production house called the city ‘Bombay’ instead of ‘Mumbai’ – and he had to face the wrath of the fundamentalists. Cos how dare he?

11. Ae Dil Hai Mushkil

Infidel Karan Johar battled old foe MNS, who threatened to vandalise Mumbai theatres cos the film starred Fawad Khan.

Somehow all the hatred for the Uri attacks became about how Bollywood cannot allow Pakistani actors to work in their films. And the Diwali release starring Fawad Khan, became a huge bone of contention, where Karan Johar even had to release a video of himself vowing to never repeat his ‘mistake’ and proving his patriotism for the country.

12. Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela

Usual suspect Bhansali had to fight off the Rajput Samaj, by adding a prefix to his film’s title.

Apparently, the Rajput Samaj of Ahmedabad got really mad at the film by Bhansali ahead of its release. The film was only called Ramleela earlier and they took offense to the fact since Lord Ram was involved. After which, the film’s name got its prelude.