Summary of this article
The Voice of Hind Rajab, which was planned to be released in India this month, has not been cleared by the CBFC.
The film’s local distributor said that a CBFC member told him that the film “would break up the India-Israel relationship.”
It was planned to be released in India on March 6, ahead of the Oscars.
Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Voice of Hind Rajab, one of the most talked-about titles, was planned for theatrical release in India this month. However, the Oscar-nominated Gaza drama is being blocked by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) due to political reasons, according to the film’s local distributor.
The Voice of Hind Rajab India ban
The Voice of Hind Rajab is being censored by the CBFC because “the film is very sensitive,” distributor Manoj Nandwana, head of Mumbai-based Jai Viratra Entertainment, informed Variety.
Nandwana said he screened the film for the CBFC in February, when it was submitted for censorship approval. It was planned for a release on March 6 in India “because we thought it was a good date ahead of the Oscars.” But The Voice of Hind Rajab is yet to be cleared for release. A CBFC member also told him that if the film is released in the country, “it would break up the India-Israel relationship.”
Nandwana said, “I told them: the India-Israel relationship is so strong that it’s idiotic to think this movie will break it,” adding that The Voice of Hind Rajab has been released “in the US, UK, Italy, France and many other countries that have a relationship with Israel.”
“But they want to censor it anyway,” the distributor said further.
What Ben Hania said on the ban
Reacting to the ban, Ben Hania commented, “I grew up loving India. Bollywood was part of my childhood. At some point I even imagined I had Indian roots just to feel special. ===> Is the honeymoon between the "world’s largest democracy” and the “only democracy in the Middle East” so fragile that a film could break it? Would love to hear your opinions (sic).”
About The Voice of Hind Rajab
The Voice of Hind Rajab follows the events around the killing of 6-year-old Hind Rajab, her four cousins, her aunt and uncle, and the two paramedics who came to save her after their car came under fire by Israeli forces as they tried to flee Gaza City in January 2024. Both Rajab and the paramedics were found dead when they reached. The phone recording of Rajab’s voice to the Palestinian Red Cross Society is used in the film.
