Melbourne, 27 June 2014 – Recently, Punjabi Cinema has been surrounded by some controversial movies based on 1984, which though have been getting great applause and support from overseas but getting banned in India.
The Punjabi film Saadda Haq — “Our Birthright” — that depicts real life events from the days of state terrorism in Punjab in the early 80s, was banned in India before its release by India’s Censor Board saying it had not passed it owing to representation of certain events portrayed in the film that the Board has found to be objectionable.
Then Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) banned Punjabi movie ’47 to 84 – Ek Peed’. The movie is said to be based on sufferings of people who witnessed partition of 1947 and mass massacre of 1984.
Earlier on January 29 the CBFC had banned Raj Kakra’s “Kaum De Heere”. Kaum De Heere is based on events related to assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Lyricist turned actor Raj Kakra has played lead role in Kaum De Heere.
This month the highly anticipated Punjabi film, Punjab 1984 based on events surrounding the Indian government’s brutal military attack on the state’s Golden Temple 30 years ago — was released in Australia on 27th June and the premiere show was held on 26th June, Thursday night.
Punjab 1984 as opposed to other 1984 based Punjabi movies did not face any ban in India and has launched worldwide today on 27th June. So now the question arises how come ‘Punjab 1984’ is not banned in India like the other 1984 based movies:
– Though the storyline of Punjab 1984 is “a little bit risky,” considering other Punjabi films covering similar subjects, like Sadda Haq (which revolved around the Khalistan movement in the ‘90s), faced censorship bans in India, Punjab 1984 didn’t face any backlash because of its human element, as opposed to an “antigovernment” statement.
– Here are some reviews by public who watched the premier show of the movie. These reviews depict why the movie was not banned as opposed to previous 1984 based Punjabi movies.
https://singhstation.net/2014/06/punjab1984-punjabi-movie-review/