San Leandro, Calif. — A debutant Indian American filmmaker is drumming up scandal over his feature film, “Unfreedom.” Set to open in the U.S. May 29, the film was banned in India for its inflammatory content.
In “Unfreedom” (previously known as “Blemished Light”), director Raj Amit Kumar addresses the topic of freedom by telling two stories side by side — in one, a liberal Muslim academic in the U.S. is kidnapped and tortured by Muslim extremists from India; and in the other, a young gay woman in India is victimized by her conservative Hindu fundamentalist father, who allows a group of policemen to gang rape her and her lover as punishment.
The film, which was screened by an India-West reporter, features graphic and nearly unwatchable depictions of torture and rape. Its imagery includes a four-foot-tall, anatomically detailed statue of an erect penis, shown in an art gallery scene; as well as full frontal nudity. Children are seen as victims of, and witnesses to, violence. In a lesbian lovemaking scene, statues of Hindu gods can be seen in the background, an image that was specifically remarked upon by Indian censors in a document explaining the many reasons why they were banning the film in its entirety.
And in typical Indian censor board style, the officials also object to scenes of smoking.
“Look, we might have to go to the Supreme Court,” Kumar told India-West in a recent phone interview. “This is not about this film, right? It’s much beyond that. The documentary ‘India’s Daughter’ was also banned.
“We have seen the phenomenon in [India], where in some ways it’s becoming more regressive. Absurdity is reaching its height. We have to say, ‘Censorship has to stop.’”
According to his Wikipedia page, Kumar graduated with a master’s degree in cinema and media studies from CUNY (Staten Island) and won a first prize in a faculty screenwriting contest from the University Film and Video Association.
Asked by India-West why he chose to depict the violence in the film in such a graphic manner, Kumar said, “I could keep the camera on the actor’s face for two hours instead. Or one could read the story. Then, you would not have any visual experience of anything.
“Cinema is about a type of personal experience. That is why we make a movie instead of writing a book. Cinema is about a visceral, raw experience. I had my reasons to have those images be seen.”
“Unfreedom” stars Adil Hussain, Victor Banerjee, Ankur Vikal, Preeti Gupta, Bhavani Lee, Samrat Chakrabarty and Seema Rahmani. Kumar is releasing the film May 29 in art house cinemas and on Video on Demand.