Bollywood Movies that received Massive Backlash Due to their Controversial Religious Plot

For quite a time, the Bollywood industry is facing the #boycott season by the public. If we talk about it, the directors and producers have sensed a technique for promoting their films, and take sensitive storylines for their films to create chaos among the fans, so that they go to the theatres and watch their movies just to find negatives, thus, giving them a satisfied amount of collection, and people are fooled. 

Especially, Bollywood has been under heavy fire in recent years for its derogatory depictions of faiths and the perceived mocking of mythological beliefs. This targeting has prompted discussions about how religious feelings are portrayed in Indian cinema and controversy. Some claim that certain Bollywood films have gone too far by sensationalising and misrepresenting our culture and mythology for entertainment purposes, hurting the feelings of several people in the process. 

Bollywood Movies in Controversy for Religious Plots

Talking about how the filmmakers and the industry people are taking this, they contend that films should be seen as fictional works and forms of creative expression rather than faithful depictions of religious texts or beliefs. They contend that any type of censorship or limitation would impede artistic freedom since creative freedom is crucial for the development and evolution of film. The demand for Bollywood to reflect and engage in more reflective and nuanced storytelling that respects the religious emotions and beliefs of all communities concerned is rising as the discussion goes on.

Let us look at some movies that created a storm amongst the viewers, and received heavy backlash from the general public for twisting the Indian culture and religious beliefs.

Adipurush

This film could be considered one of the biggest controversies in the film industry till now. Starring ‘Bahubali’ fame Prabhas, who has portrayed as believer/ messenger of god in the blockbuster, was once again thought to be delivering his acting skills in the film, but unfortunately, people were very disappointed with the movie, as it heavily destroyed the character of Lord Hanuman by the dialogues. The Om Raut-directed film was criticised for its inaccurate depiction of Hindu gods including Lord Ram and Lord Hanuman. The script of the film, which was a modern adaptation of epic Ramayana, received criticism for its use of impolite language, so much that the makers had to change some of the dialogues from the film, and scriptwriter Manoj Muntashir Shukla apologised to fans.

OMG 2

Ahead of the teaser release of Akshay Kumar and Pankaj Tripathi’s mythological satire movie Oh My God 2, the censor board is specifically taking caution before the release of the movie due to the massive criticism received by the movie Adipurush. The sequel of the 2012 movie OMG: Oh My God will see Akshay Kumar as Lord Shiva, after portraying Lord Krishna in the first part. Sighting the situation created after Adipurush, CBFC apparently is more cautious and has reportedly delayed the movie’s release as a result of what occurred with Om Raut's Adipurush. It is reported that the Board submitted the movie to the revising committee as a preemptive measure in order to avoid the wrath that followed the release of the Prabhas-starring movie last month.

Pathan

Shah Rukh Khan has always captivated fans with his package movies, which had everything the audience wants, but King Khan was also caught in the grasp of controversies for his blockbuster movie ‘Pathan’. Before its release, a boycott movement was launched against the Pathaan movie, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone. The topic of discussion was the colour of Deepika Padukone’s clothing in the “Besharam Rang” song. Conservative Hindu organisations sparked a dispute over one of the songs after Deepika was spotted wearing a saffron-colored bikini in the song Besharam Rang, which translates from Hindi as “shameless colour.” apart from this, many were already incensed by the movie’s name Pathaan, a Muslim title.

PK 

As a parody of several delicate subjects, including political ideologies, religion, and superstitions that are so ingrained in Indian society, the movie was steeped in controversy. Aamir Khan played an alien who is stranded on Earth and eventually reveals the hideous side of human greed and the exploitation of religion. Some moments in the movie offended Hindutva organisations, while others said that it unnecessarily insulted Hindu rites and beliefs, portraying Hindus as either atheists or zealots while excluding any mention of other religions. There were also worries that the movie only questioned superstitions rather than coming to any conclusions about religion.

Padmavat

A number of controversies centered around the 2018 Sanjay Leela film ‘Padmavat’. The movie, which is one of Deepika Padukone’s most significant historical dramas, was formerly known as ‘Padmavati’. The representation of history hurt the feelings of several religious communities in Rajasthan, and they were opposed to it. As a result, Deepika and director Sanjay Leela Bhansali both received death threats. While the movie awaiting approval from the certificate board, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Haryana banned the movie to release in the states. As a result of the filmmakers’ incomplete application and the 68-day regulation, which states that one must submit an application to the film certification board at least 68 days before the film’s release date, the movie, the other hand, did not get the requisite certifications from the Certificate Board. Additionally, the title of the film was changed from ‘Padmavati’ to ‘Padmavat’.

Goliyon Ki Rasleela- Ram Leela

Again Sanjay Leela Bhansali directed movie Ram Leela, his debut feature film with Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh, sparked controversy because of its title (before Ram Leela) since it was seen to be improper for a movie that dealt with themes of intimacy and violence. Later, a group of activists filed a case against the director at the Delhi High Court. As a result, before the film’s debut, the title was changed to ‘Goliyon Ki Raasleela - Ram Leela’.

The Kerala Story

The Adah Sharma-starrer film, which was directed by Sudipto Sen, is focused on forced conversion to religion. It is said that 32,000 women in Kerala were purportedly converted to Islam and many of them were sent to ISIS-controlled Syria at the terror group’s height of power. Following the trailer release, a petition was submitted to the Supreme Court asking for a stay of execution due to the “worst kind of hate speech” and “audio-visual propaganda” it included. The theme of the movie that 32,000 women in Kerala were coerced into joining ISIS and converting to Islam went viral, and stirred much debate. Later, the makers modified the description of the film on YouTube as “the true stories of three young girls from different parts of Kerala.”