Politics and cinema are two such areas in which high-voltage drama is expected. The trend of making films on political agenda is quite old in the industry. The new name added to this is Kangana Ranaut’s movie Emergency. However, due to heavy controversy, this film has been postponed once again. But Kangana Ranaut’s Emergency is not the first film which has been postponed due to the noise of politics. Even before this, there were many such films in Hindi cinema, which fell prey to politics and were disliked by politicians or organisations, especially the one made on the former Prime Minister’s life. Let’s have a look at films that revolve around the life history of the former Prime Minister, that didn’t go well with either the audiences or the organisations.
The film Kissa Kursi Ka starring Shabana Azmi, Raj Babbar and Surekha Sikri turned out to be a controversial political drama. The movie was completed in 1974 under the direction of director Amrit Nahata. However, due to the imposition of emergency in 1975, its release was postponed. During the emergency, the then government saw this movie and asked for changes in it. Also, its prints were confiscated. Somehow, Kissa Kursi Ka was released in 1978. But there was a lot of discussion about this film as a political satire.
Aandhi
During the emergency period, Sanjeev Kumar and Suchitra Sen’s film Aandhi was also ready for release. But director Gulzar’s movie was accused of misrepresenting the relationship between the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her husband. However, when Indira’s government fell in 1977, the way for the release of Aandhi was cleared.
Indu Sarkar
Before Kangana Ranaut’s Emergency, director Madhur Bhandarkar’s film Indu Sarkar has shown the story of the Emergency period of 1975 on the big screen. A lot of political mileage was drawn from this movie. The Congress party strongly opposed the film. However, the release date of Indu Sarkar was not postponed and it was released in theatres in 2017.
Emergency
Kangana Ranaut’s film Emergency was to be released on the big screen on September 6. But this movie did not get the green signal from the censor board and a petition was filed in the court regarding the Emergency by some members of the Sikh community. It is alleged that the image of the Sikh community has been presented in the wrong way in the film. Currently, the release date of Emergency has been postponed indefinitely.
There are several other Bollywood films like Bellbottom, Sam Bahadur and Raid among others, where several celebrities have played Indira Gandhi on-screen. However, being just in supporting and positive roles, the films didn’t get engrossed in any controversy, especially because of their storyline. Source: IndiaTV News