B'wood movies face ire for hurting relegious sentiments

This, in itself, has the makings of a potboiler – the story of religious censorship in India. We’ve made a fine art of religious censorship, working in advance to, sort of, ‘control’ or ‘stop’ the occurrence of any unpleasantness in the future. Often, it is religious heads, or political parties that can foresee the future of such occurrences, so as to make sure the present is also made uneasy with protests and threats to go to court.Most recently, various miffed Catholic groups called for protests against Priyadarshan ready-for-release movie, Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal, demanding removal of scenes portraying clergy in an “offensive manner”.
As a nation, we’ve watched Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses being banned, MF Husain’s artwork being vandalised, writers being taken to court over mindless PILs, and even something as obscure as this: the cancelling of an opera, Babur In London, which Indian artiste Jeet Thayil and British composer Edward Rushton were working on. It was supposed to be a six-city Indian tour, but the organisers chickened out as they were wary of offending religious sentiments.
But most of all, according to the many who religiously (sorry for the pun) intervene, our religious sentiments are most hurt by various Bollywood movies. In January this year, the Christian Secular Forum (CSF) was very upset, and they said the entire Christian community was too. Reason? The song, Hosanna, in the Hindi film Ekk Deewana Tha. It wasn’t the whole song, just the word hosanna. The forum’s general secretary had wanted to know at that time whether Rahman would have used Islamic or Hindu prayer words with equal ease “in a carnal love song?”.
But this is not a one-off incident. These days, more than making 100 crores, Bollywood seems to be “hurting religious sentiments”. In 2008, Akshay Kumar had to actually apologise to various Sikh religious heads, and prostrate at the Rakabganj Gurudwara in Delhi, to ask for forgiveness for the sin of making Singh Is Kinng! A special committee of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) wanted to clear the film for screening, and if it was a hit, wanted to use the film as an example to bring patit Sikhs (those who cut their hair and beard), to make them puran Sikhs! A special screening was organised, and the committee raised objections and demanded that changes be made.
This started a new trend in Bollywood – that of ‘religious screening’. Almost all the films released post this, 2009 onwards, saw ‘religious objections’ being raised and special screenings being organized. Even Hollywood films were not spared.
Now, most makers and actors prefer to quietly submit the movie to a ‘religious screening’ to, as one PR told us when Akshay’s OMG: Oh My God! was screened for religious heads in Delhi recently, “avoid future problems closer to the release date.”
And just how much of a necessity this has become can be gauged from the fact that when Sunny Deol’s movie Jo Bole So Nihaal ignored such ‘religious objections’, there were two bomb blasts near the Delhi theatres it was being screened in. Such is the religious censorship fear among Bollywood now, that Ajay Devgn, who had already clarifies that his film didn’t portray Sikhs in a bad light, or hurt Sikh sentiments, had special ‘turban experts’ flown in from faraway places so that he could get the turban tied correctly in Son Of Sardaar.
Bollywood's OMG moments
Special disclaimers for movies with religious content, special screenings for the religious communities featured in them, and the need for a go-ahead from religious experts – Move over Censor Board, ‘coz we have super-censors in the house!
Singh Is Kinng (2008): The Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC) asked Vipul Shah to reshoot portions of the film, to portray Sikhs correctly. A special screening of the film was also held for the committee, prior to release.
Slumdog Millionaire (2008): The Hindu Janajagruti Samiti accused the writers and makers of the film of ‘hurting religious sentiments’ by showing Lord Rama and Indian culture in poor light.
Love Aaj Kal (2009): The film was specially screened by Saif Ali Khan for the Punjab Cultural and Heritage Board, who objected to Saif’s trimmed beard, and romantic scenes set in a gurudwara.
Angels And Demons (2009): This Hollywood film was submitted by the Censor Board to the CBCI (Catholics Bishops Conference of India), the archdiocese of Bombay and Catholic Secular Forum (CSF) for clearance, before its India release.
Dil Bole Hadippa (2009): The Punjabi Cultural and Heritage Board raised its voice over Rani Mukerji’s character being portrayed as a ‘strong but foolish’ sardaar in the movie.
Kambakkht Ishq (2009): Hindu Jan Jagruti Samiti said the song Om Mangalam included lyrics of a religious song, and was hence “offensive”.
Kaminey (2009): Priests at the Jagannath temple alleged blasphemy over a scene where Apna haath, Jagannath was written on a toilet door, alongside a photograph of a scantily-clad woman and Jagannath Sena Sangathan filed an FIR against the director and producers.
Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal (2012): The Catholic Secular Forum, the Association of Concerned Catholics and the Maharashtra Christian Youth Forum, demanded that objectionable scenes of a dance, featuring a Catholic priest on the steps of a church while wearing a garland of lottery tickets and a rosary, a live person hiding in a coffin marked with a cross, and a priest holding a bouquet of flowers bearing the message – “I love you”, be removed from the film.
OMG: Oh My God! (2012): Akshay Kumar pre-empted controversy by willingly holding a special screening of the film for various religious heads, before the release of the film. So far, so good for Akshay. The makers of OMG were also advised by the Censor Board to create a special disclaimer, which read, OMG Oh My God! is the journey of the protagonist who discovers his faith through the happenings and occurrences in his life and goes from being a non-believer to a believer. The film is meant for entertainment purposes only and we do not intend to hurt the sentiments of any individual, community, sect or religion.” The disclaimer, in Hindi, Urdu and English, was accompanied by a voice-over.
Son Of Sardaar (2012): Amid allegations that the film depicts Sikhs in a bad light, Ajay Devgn agreed to cut a few objectionable lines from the film. The head of All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) wrote a letter to Akal Takht, urging the clergy to take action against Ajay Devgn for hurting the religious sentiments of Sikhs by using dialogues like “If Sikhs weren’t there, then who’d have invented abuses?” and “If sardaars weren’t there, then on whom would the jokes be made?”. A SGPC statement said that Devgn had agreed to remove the objectionable dialogues and get a “clean chit” from the them before releasing the film.
Secular has a new meaning
Anurag Kashyap (Nov 2012): The meaning of secular is changing. Secular now means approval from all religions and all communities... You want to do anything in a secular country, you need approval from all religions and all communities, and that’s hilarious... At a point in the future, every scene will have a disclaimer.