Honey Trehan questions the absence of minority heroes in Bollywood storytelling.
Filmmaker links Muslim protagonist erasure to political fear and censorship.
CBFC delays and selective approvals highlighted through Punjab 95 issue.
Filmmaker Honey Trehan has raised uncomfortable questions about minority representation in Hindi films, arguing that Bollywood increasingly avoids showing real-life minority heroes on screen. In an interview, Trehan said that while Muslim A-list actors continue to headline big films, their characters are often rewritten to fit a more "acceptable" Hindu identity.
Honey Trehan on minority heroes in Bollywood
In an interview with SCREEN, Trehan described a growing climate of fear within the industry. “There are so many films where you can have Muslim A-list actors, but the protagonist has to be Hindu. I don’t understand why that’s the case,” he said. He recalled being involved in a big-budget project based on a real Muslim figure, in which the character’s religion was changed to Hindu before release.
Trehan added that this pattern reflects broader anxieties around power and perception. According to him, “there’s a fear in society that people in power don’t want to see a real-life hero come from a minority,” whether Muslim, Sikh or Christian.
Political polarity and CBFC concerns
The filmmaker also linked this shift to political polarity in Indian cinema. He argued that films like Udta Punjab or Haider would struggle to release today. Referring to his stalled project, Punjab 95, Trehan questioned why some politically charged films cleared certification hurdles easily while others remain stuck with the CBFC.
Trehan suggested that portraying Muslims negatively might have changed his film’s fate, pointing to the kind of narratives that receive institutional support and public endorsement.
Honey Trehan’s recent work
Trehan’s latest release, Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders, is a sequel to the 2020 film and stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Chitrangada Singh. The Netflix film received mixed reviews, with criticism focused on its predictability rather than performances.
