9 films that had been BANNED… but can be watched on OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon, Mubi, Prime Video

Films and controversies almost go hand in hand. That, simply does not mean all the movies are controversial. There is an ocean of films that are clean and can be watched with the entire family of all ages, without having the need to ‘drop the remote’! At the same time, there are many films which get banned by the censor. The reasons for the same may range from glorifying extreme violence, ‘adult-rated’ content, or could even have been made on controversial topics in the plot.

Recently, the Nayanthara starrer Tamil film ‘Annapoorni’ has come under the eye of the scanner. The reason? It was because of its controversial story plot that its leading lady (played by Nayanthara), despite hailing from a conservative Brahmin family, goes on to eat meat in order to understand the food better, which will smoothen her process of participating in a cookery competition! The uproar that the film faced on social media had become so huge, that the streaming OTT platform Netflix decided to take down the film. Let’s have a look at the other films which had got banned for various reasons, but can now be viewed on OTT platforms!

Film:
Angry Indian Goddesses

Cast:
Sarah-Jane Dias, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Anushka Manchanda, Sandhya Mridul, Rajshri Deshpande, Amrit Maghera

Director:
Pan Nalin

The reason cited for the film to be banned:
The government felt that the Indian goddesses and men were not projected in the right light. Even though the film did not get any total ban, there were several objectionable scenes which had been cut from the film.

Which OTT platform is streaming it?

Netflix

Film:
Unfreedom 

Cast:
Victor Banerjee, Adil Hussain, Bhanu Uday, Preeti Gupta

Director:
Raj Amit Kumar

The reason cited for the film to be banned:
Besides the same-gender love story, the film also had a terrorism angle to it. 

Which OTT platform is streaming it?
Netflix

Film:
Black Friday 

Cast:
Pawan Malhotra, Kay Kay Menon, Aditya Srivastava

Director:
Anurag Kashyap

The reason cited for the film to be banned:
It was based on the most horrific bomb blasts that shook the whole country. 

Which OTT platform is streaming it?
Even though the film was never released in theatres, you can still watch the film on Disney plus Hotstar

Film
Parzania 

Cast
Naseeruddin Shah, Sarika, Parzan Dastur, Raj Zutshi

Director
Rahul Dholakia

The reason cited for the film to be banned:
The film’s plot was based on 2002 Gujarat riots

Which OTT platform is streaming it?
Hotstar

Film:
Loev

Cast:
Shiv Panditt and Dhruv Ganesh

Director:
Sudhanshu Saria

The reason cited for the film to be banned:
The film dealt about same gender love between the protagonists. The film was made at a relatively low budget, where most of which were crowd funded. The film also went onto win the ‘Audience Award for Best Feature Film’ at the 2016 Tel Aviv International Film Festival. The film was never released in theatres. 

Which OTT platform is streaming it?
Netflix

Film:
Fire 

 Cast:
Shabana Azmi, Nandita Das

Director:

 Deepa Mehta   

The reason cited for the film to be banned:  

The film dealt with the same gender love, which led to a huge uproar at the time of its release. 

 Which OTT platform is streaming it? 

Prime Video

Film:
Paanch 

Cast:
Tejaswini Kolhapure, Kay Kay Menon, Vijay Maurya, Joy Fernandes

Director:
Anurag Kashyap

The reason cited for the film to be banned:
It was reportedly loosely based on the infamous murders which took place in the year 1976 in Pune. 

Which OTT platform is streaming it?
Mubi

Film:
Lipstick Under My Burkha 

Cast:
Ratna Pathak, Konkona Sen Sharma, Plabita Borthakur, Aahana Kumra

Director:
Alankrita Shrivastava

The reason cited for the film to be banned:
As per a report in BBC, the film was initially banned, in part because it was ‘lady oriented’.

 
Which OTT platform is streaming it?
Amazon Prime Video

Film:
Move over Bollywood, lets talk about one Hollywood film, which is 'The Da Vinci Code'

Cast:
Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen

The film’s plot
Netflix states that, ‘A Harvard professor must untangle a web of deceit linked to the works of Leonardo da Vinci after a mysterious killing at the Louvre Museum’ 

Director:
Ron Howard

The reason cited for the film to be banned:
The film was banned because many felt that it tarnished many religious truths. 

Which OTT platform is streaming it?
Netflix