“Censorship, legal and extra-legal, is a serious inroad on freedom of expression. Censorship is highly subjective and essentially mindless. The main motivation for censorship is intolerance. Conventional wisdom and official ideology cannot be allowed to be questioned and criticised and must be suppressed. Portrayal of historical events that depict a government or certain persons or groups in an unfavourable light cannot be tolerated and should therefore be suppressed by recourse to censorship.” This is a comment picked from an article by Soli Sorabjee in the Indian Express (January 30, 2007) following the non-screening of Parzania in Gujarat. The film was rejected by multiplex owners in Gujarat for fear of a Hindu backlash.

The CBFC is not the supreme authority. Its decision is often over-ruled by the administrative head of a given state including the Centre. So, censored films are also stopped after they have obtained the certificate granting them the right to show their film in the theatres. Take the example of Mrinal Sen’s Baishey Shravan.

“In October 1960, I received a note marked ‘Immediate’ from the I & B Ministry. Baishey Sravan was partly based on the Bengal famine 1943. It had been invited to the London Film Festival. The Ministry thought it would be in the fitness of things to remove all shots showing the protagonist, an incorrigible villager, using his fingers while eating. For this would, for sure, nauseate the sophisticated audience abroad. When I refused, the ministry stopped negotiating with me. I sent the print directly to the festival. Subsequently, I informed the ministry that nobody had felt sick during the screening. There was no nausea,” Mrinal Sen laughed.

Times however, have not changed since 1960. The most bizarre example is the Union government’s holding back the mandatory censor exemption for 19 films scheduled to be screened at the 30th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) in December 2025. This decision led to the last-minute cancellation or delays in screenings and triggered controversy over artistic freedom and alleged political censorship.

While formal reasons were not specified, the Ministry can reject exemptions if content is deemed to affect national security, law and order or international relations. The denial of clearance had not only shocked everyone but had completely disrupted the festival's schedule, with some screenings being cancelled entirely.

Reasons were not specified because the Centre could not put its finger on any reason. For example, Sergei Eisenstein’s classic film Battleship Potemkin that is, till today, taught in film schools across the world as a model lesson in certain cinematic techniques. This film was included because it celebrates its 100th birthday this year. So, why was it banned? No reasons were forwarded, possibly because the powers-that-be had never even heard of the film much less watched it. Perhaps, the word “Battleship” in the title got them scared as an attack on their over-enthusiastic ideology they term “Hindutva”. The name “Potemkin” also sounds Russian, so….

Battleship Potemkin is set in June 1905; the protagonists of the film are the members of the crew of the Potemkin, a battleship of the Imperial Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet. Eisenstein divided the plot into five acts, each with its own title.

The film is a prime example of the Soviet montage theory of editing, such as in the "Odessa Steps" scene, which became widely influential and often recreated. In 1958, the film was voted on Brussels 12 list at the 1958 World Expo. Battleship Potemkin is widely considered one of the greatest films ever made. In Sight and Sound critics' poll in 2022, it was voted the fifty-fourth-greatest film of all time, and it had been placed in the top 10 in many previous editions.

The films affected by the decision include several politically conscious works and classic films as follows:

Palestine-themed films: Several films related to the Palestinian struggle were blocked, including the originally scheduled opening film Palestine 36, Once Upon a Time in Gaza, All That's Left of You and Wajib. Many filmmakers were angry with banning the screening of Beef suspecting that the Hindutva Brigade probably was angered by the use of the word Beef as the title of the film.

Santosh, a Hindi film directed Sandhya Suri also initially came under the axe for strange reasons. Santosh, leaves you uneasy because of the weight of its narrative in a world ruled by corruption, sexism and caste inequality. It's a deeply political and painfully human work, anchored by a silent protagonist whose eyes say it all. However, despite its initial impact and technically impeccable execution, the film falls short of delving as deeply as it should into the themes it tackles.
 

The story follows Santosh Saini, portrayed with restraint and nuance by Shahana Goswami. Widowed at 28, Santosh is forced to make an unthinkable choice: between destitution and a police career in a male-dominated system that despises her very presence. It is a pragmatic decision loaded with emotional burdens. The job that should represent security comes at a steep cost, and Goswami plays her with a constant tension, as if she's carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. Why was this film banned from being screened at IKKF 2025? Is it because (a) the film is titled after its woman protagonist, (b) the woman is the widow of a dead policeman, and (c) she is Dalit because these are questions that make the leaders at the Centre squirm in their seats? But now it is open to be watched.

The Hour of the Furnaces, Clash, Timbuktu, Bamako, Eagles of the Republic, Heart of the Wolf, Red Rain, Riverstone, Tunnels: Sun In The Dark, Yes, and Flames were also among the 19 films awaiting clearance.

On December 16, Kerala’s Minister for Cultural Affairs Saji Cherian on Tuesday (December 16, 2025) directed the State Chalachitra Academy to screen all the films as per schedule for the ongoing 30th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), including the remaining 15 films for which the Union Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has not yet provided censor exemption.

Film journalist, the late Mohan Deep who was with the CBFC for two years said, “Censorship is one way of safeguarding power. It is a part of license, quota and permit Raj. The purpose is the same as it is for imposing income tax, bestowing awards, concessions, grants, endowments, red-tape control. The idea is to let the world know who wields the whip. I have heard of instances where money has changed hands for beating the guidelines or clout being used for the same reason. Filmmakers who support censorship play into the hands of politicians. They are acknowledging and recognizing the right of others to sit on judgement of their work and to dictate the do’s and don’t’s in a democracy.”

Who said that the RSS and the BJP have effectively silenced mass and class resistance across the country? Two examples are enough. One is the Kerala CM’s stand against the Centre’s interference in the screening of 19 films at the 30th IFFK 2025 and the other is the uprising by the six leading tribal groups in Assam demanding their inclusion in the 6th Schedule and the State is ruled by you know who.