Gay and Lesbianism is always been banned in India due to the belief of our community who considers this as an unnatural relationship in India. Days after India voted against gay rights for the United Nation employees, a film called Unfreedom which explores homosexuality, has been banned by the CBFC. The film is the story of a young girl who resists a forced arranged marriage to unite with her lesbian partner. The nudity and lovemaking scenes of the female protagonists, irked the Board.
This is not the first time that things have been banned in India just because it does not …. With the authorities concerned. In the past few months, the Indian authorities or we can say the Indian government has broke many records and all of them revolve around bans. India has banned access to some important websites and domain and hosting providers. All in all there were 32 websites that were banned, but the numbers went much higher. There were thousands of website owners who had their domains or hosting registered on some of these blocked websites. These websites were blocked or banned because of national security concerns.
Fifty Shades of Grey another movie which was banned in India due to the explicit scenes in the movie according to the sensor boards of India. This movie have been a huge blockbuster all over the world with over $400m, but the Indian censor board decided to ban the film following the footsteps of other countries like Malaysia, Kenya, Indonesia and various others. Another controversial documentary from Leslie Udwin called India’s Daughter based on the Nirbhaya gang rape was banned in India by the Supreme Court. The Indian government decided to ban the airing of this BBC documentary not only on television, but the authorities went ahead to ban the availability on YouTube too.
Now coming back to the ban on Unfreedom the movie which revolves around the young Indian girl who unites with her lesbian partner after resisting a forced arrange marriage. Of course the film has intimate lovemaking scenes which irritated the censor board. There’s a secondary story that revolves around a Muslim fundamentalist in New York who kidnaps a liberal Muslim scholar with an intent to kill. The director of the movie has elaborated on the subject saying that “The two stories are juxtaposed and the film challenges the idea of religious fundamentalism and questions its connection with homosexuality which is a biting reality of India.”
He added that the film was refused by both the Examining Committee and the Revising Committee. “They plainly told me that after watching the film, Hindu and Muslims will start fighting and will ignite unnatural passions. I was aghast as my film is not provocative.” The filmmaker then appealed to the Film Certification Apellate Tribunal (FCAT) but this time too, he was denied a certificate. “I’m making an appeal in the High Court now as the Censor Board cannot tell a filmmaker what to make and what not to,”said the filmmaker
The filmmaker has been denied a certificate and is now making an appeal in the High Court as he believes, “the Censor Board cannot tell a filmmaker what to make and what not to.” However, one needs to understand that such movies provide a mirror to the society. One simply cannot deny the fact that the LGBT community in our country needs every bit of help and support.