India News

Padmavati cleared for release in UK without cuts but won’t be screened

Published

9 years ago

November 23, 2017

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Producers of the Deepika Padukone-starrer say they will wait for Indian Censor Board to clear the film first even as Gujarat too bans film’s release

While fringe groups, BJP leaders and other lumpen elements continue to demand a ban on the Deepika Padukone-starrer Padmavati, the controversial mega-budget movie directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali has been cleared for a release by the British censor board without any cuts.

However, the film – which was scheduled for a worldwide December 1 release – will not be screened in the United Kingdom because its producers wish to wait for the Indian censor board’s final order on the movie.

Interestingly, the decision of the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) to clear the movie for viewing in the UK with a 12A rating came on a day when the BJP-led Gujarat government in India issued a notification banning the release of the film in the state. The 12A rating granted by the BBFC to the Deepika Padukone-starrer means that the film cannot be viewed in the UK by a child under the age of 12 unless accompanied by an adult.

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Though the decision of the British censors may appear like a moment of triumph for the beleaguered cast and crew of the film which has been facing abuse, threats of violence and even death in India, the approval for screening has also left the filmmakers of Padmavati in a piquant situation.

As news of the decision by the BBFC spread on Thursday morning, advocate ML Sharma rushed to the Supreme Court with a plea demanding that the Padmavati’s producers be restrained from releasing the film overseas. The apex court has asked Sharma to file a writ petition over his fresh plea by November 28 and listed the matter for hearing on that day. The top court has already received a bunch of petitions seeking a ban on the movie in India.

However, even if the producers of Padmavati got a favourable order from the apex court against Sharma’s new plea and also received a nod from the Indian censor board for the movie’s release, they may still not be out of the woods.

First, Gujarat and a slew of other states have already banned the film’s release. Second, if the producers decide to release the movie in the UK market, the decision would open up possibilities of the film getting pirated and leaked in the Indian market before Padmavati gets a chance to hit screens back home. This would add to the financial losses of the film’s producers.

The uncertainty over the film’s release notwithstanding, the decision of the BBFC, however, did grant members of the Twitteratti to take swipes at lumpen elements, BJP leaders like Suraj Pal Amu and self-proclaimed guardians of Kshatriya pride like Karni Sena chief Lokendra Singh Kalvi who have been protesting against the movie across India.

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Related Topics:Padmavati Sanjay Leela Bhansali Supreme Court

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Union Home Minister Amit Shah has set December 31, 2029 as the deadline for India’s campaign against drugs, calling on states and Union Territories to move beyond recording seizures and focus on dismantling the networks behind narcotics trafficking.

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Mr Shah urged states to develop specialised teams capable of investigating these newer forms of narcotics trafficking.

The government also wants foreign nationals involved in drug supply chains to face deportation and blacklisting, while those operating supply networks into India from abroad are to be pursued for extradition.

2026-2029 drug control roadmap

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According to the report, the document contains more than 100 individual targets.

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The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Odisha has been completed, with the final electoral roll published after a verification process that resulted in the removal of 20.56 lakh electors.

According to Odisha Chief Electoral Officer S Gopalan, the SIR exercise began on May 30, 2026. At the beginning of the exercise, the electoral roll had 3,13,99,000 electors.

During the first phase, 20.12 lakh voters were removed for various reasons. This included 8.32 lakh electors who were found to be dead, 8.08 lakh who had permanently shifted, 2 lakh who were absent and 1.58 lakh who had duplicate entries.

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After the draft electoral roll was published on July 5, further verification was carried out for voters whose details could not be mapped or contained discrepancies.

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