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First Banned Film Bhakta Vidur: The British had also banned the film Tyag Bhoomi. This Tamil-language film made in 1939 was banned in Madras after 22 weeks of its release.
First Banned Film Bhakta Vidur: The recently released film The Kerala Story is tax free in those states where the Chief Minister belongs to BJP. So there is a ban in those states, which are non-BJP ruled, but the history of ban on films in India is more or less as old as the history of Indian films. For the first time in India, when a film was banned, the rule was of the British and they had banned the film Bhakta Vidur in Karachi and Madras because of Mahatma Gandhi.
'This is Gandhi. We will not allow this'
The name of the film that was banned for the first time in Indian history was Bhakta Vidur. It was a silent film i.e. there was no sound in this film. Released in the year 1921, this film was directed by Kanjibhai Rathod. This film was produced by Kohinoor Film Company.
As the name suggests, the film was influenced by Vidur, a character from the Mahabharata, but the British had stopped the film from releasing in Karachi and Madras Presidency, saying Vidur's character in the film was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi. Then the censor board said, "We know what you are doing. He is not Vidur, he is Gandhi. We will not allow this.
Not only this, the Censor Board had even said that this film expresses dissatisfaction against the government and motivates people to non-cooperation. After this the film was banned in Karachi, Madras and some other states. Why did the British object to this film because of Mahatma Gandhi? Understand his background too.
When the British considered the character of Bhakta Vidur to be Mahatma Gandhi
In fact, the Rowlatt Act was passed in the year 1919 in India. This act was passed on 18 March. There was a lot of opposition to this act in India. When thousands of people gathered for one such protest at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, Punjab, General Dyer surrounded everyone and opened fire.
At least one thousand people died in this massacre on 13 April 1919 and more than two thousand people were seriously injured. Despite this terrible massacre, Indians continued to oppose the Rowlatt Act, whose leadership was in the hands of Mahatma Gandhi.
The British saw the character Vidur of the film Bhakta Vidur as Mahatma Gandhi, because in the film too Vidur was shown dressed like Mahatma Gandhi and wearing a Gandhi cap. Apart from this, many incidents related to Indian politics of that time were also included in the film, due to which the film stood against Indian politics and British rule instead of Mahabharata. The result was that for the first time a film was banned in India.
The film was banned even on Tyag Bhoomi
Another film Tyag Bhoomi was also banned by the British during their rule. This Tamil-language film made in 1939 was banned by the British in Madras after 22 weeks of its release. The reason for this was that this film was also seen supporting Congress, Mahatma Gandhi and India's freedom movement.
On the other hand, the first film to be banned in independent India was the film Runumi released in 1952. It was banned in Assam by the Chief Minister of Assam Vishnuram Medhi without giving any reason. The first film to be banned nationwide in independent India was Summertime released in 1955. In this, an American woman was shown falling in love with a married Italian citizen. Then this film was banned in the whole country, terming it against Indian values.
The number of films banned in the country is more than 100.
Since then till now, the number of films which have been banned sometimes in the whole country and sometimes in some state is more than 100. And there is only politics behind the banning of all these films, which sometimes appealed for Indian values behind banning the film, sometimes for tarnishing the image of a leader and sometimes for spoiling communal harmony.
In this, governments ranging from Congress, Janata Party, Janata Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party have been included, who have banned films from time to time to bake their political breads. Otherwise, during the Emergency, Kissa Kursi would have been released during Indira Gandhi's rule and India's Daughter during Prime Minister Modi's rule.
News is originally taken from: https://www.abplive.com/news/india/bhakta-vidur-film-was-banned-for-the-first-time-because-of-mahatma-gandhi-2404850
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