Most Controversial Bollywood Movies!

Whether right or wrong, controversies are Bollywood’s fodder. More often than not, controversies have only helped movies attract more viewers than lose them. Some of the most controversial Bollywood movies were also the biggest hits so there might be some sort of relationship between controversy and success. Bollywood isn’t averse to controversies and sometimes there are planned controversies around the actors, movie plot, etc.

However, the producers surely want to stay away from any controversy linked to religion, case or a specific region. Especially when a thought-provoking Bollywood movie releases, it raises questions and eventually gives rise to controversies.

Bollywood has no scarcity of movies that faced huge resistance before release or faced complete ban and were never released in the country. Here’s a shortlist of the most controversial of them all.

Padmaavat

The movie retells the story of a 14th Century Hindu queen and a Muslim ruler. The film faced great controversies as Hindu groups and a Rajput caste organization. They alleged that the movie includes an intimate scene in which the Muslim king dreams of becoming intimate with the Hindu queen.

Although the director of the film clearly said that the film does not feature such a dream sequence. But rumors were enough to create resistance from a large region and the filmmakers had to rename the movie to “Padmaavat” from “Padmaavati”

OMG – Oh My God!

The movie garnered attention for the honest portrayal of the religious situations in India but it also had a lot of controversies around it. There was a complaint against the actors of this movie for hurting the sentiments of Hindus.

The Honourable High Court of Madhya Pradesh had asked the CFBC to take action against allegedly objectionable comments against Hinduism in OMG. The movie was also banned in UAE.

The Dirty Picture

The Dirty Picture is a 2011 Indian biographical musical drama film inspired by the life of Silk Smitha. Smitha was a South Indian actress noted for her erotic roles. The movie was received greatly by the audience but it got into a lot of controversies.

The key reason behind the controversy was the posters of the movie. Brothers of the actress took exception to the bold posters and even sent notices to the makers of the movie. They contended that the movie portrayed the life of Smitha incorrectly and tainted her reputation.

Ram Teri Ganga Maili

Mandakini and Rajiv Kapoor’s dazzling movie had some very bold scenes which were considered to be inappropriate for the audience which stirred controversy. Actress Mandakini’s bosoms featured in the poster, veiled behind a wet white cloth, was only a teaser. She had her ‘assets’ flashing in some of the scenes which were quite abnormal for Bollywood movies.

Hate Story

There was a controversy around this movie because the poster of this movie, along with some of the scenes and dialogues, sent the over-sensitive Censor board in a controversial thought that the promo of this movie was not suitable to be aired on the television.

Luckily for director Vikram Bhatt, the film managed to get away with a lot of liberties and turned out to be a hit.

PK

The film PK questions superstitions in a country where religion is deeply rooted in the social consciousness of the people. Some scenes of the movie hurt the sentiments of several religious groups.

The movie also invited the ire of yoga guru Baba Ramdev. Baba Ramdev called for a social boycott of makers of the film, as it criticizes Hindu gods and goddesses. A hashtag called #boycottPK started trending almost immediately after the movie was released.

Kurbaan

In 2009 Kareena Kapoor courted a political controversy. Shiv Sena and other Hindu groups protested against the bare-back poster of her film Kurbaan. Members of a political party sent a saree to Kareena Kapoor, but when she was asked this in a press conference she refused to comment on the issue.

The right-wing groups demanded ban on the film and defaced the posters in parts of the country. A petitioner, Mohammed Ali, filed a petition in Bombay High Court to stay the release of the movie after claiming two of the songs in the movie were obscene. The court, however, declined to stay the release.

Haider

The movie faced controversy because of the ‘unfair’ portrayal of the Indian armed forces in the movie.

 It mentions the alleged atrocities committed by the Indian armed forces officials during the 1990s in the detention centers in Jammu and Kashmir.

Udta Punjab

Udta Punjab is loosely based on and revolves around the drug abuse by the youth population in the Indian state of Punjab. The controversy around the film Udta Punjab, a film on the drug menace in Punjab, scorns to die down.

The Central Board of Film Certification sought a stay on the film’s release. CBF’s objection was that the themes dealt with in the film were too vulgar for the general audience. As a result, the producers were directed to make a total of 89 cuts in the film. They also had to remove references to Punjab, politics or elections. It had also held back the film’s certification. 

According to The Economist, Nihalani “was appointed by the BJP, whose coalition partner in Punjab, the SAD, had much to lose from bad publicity” resulting from the movie. Later, the Bombay High Court cleared Udta Punjab with one cut and disclaimers. The court had directed that the scene where Tommy Singh (Shahid Kapoor) is shown urinating on a crowd needs to be removed. The CBFC was directed to issue an ‘A’ certificate to Udta Punjab within two days.

After release, the movie was critically acclaimed, and at the 62nd Filmfare Awards, the film won four awards. The awards included Best Actress (Alia Bhatt) and Critics Award for Best Actor (Shahid Kapoor).

Bandit Queen

The film was criticized by the Censor Board of India for the excessive use of crude language and sexual content.

Later Phoolan Dev fiercely disputed its accuracy and fought to get it banned in India. When the film was finally released, it received a great positive response at several film festivals.

Mohalla Assi

The film was put on halt throughout the country by a Delhi court as it was hurting religious sentiments. The Court ordered that the movie should not hit the theatres till allegedly offending scenes and dialogues were removed.

The film is based on the surroundings of the Assi Ghat in Varanasi, a popular tourist spot on the banks of river Ganga.

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