Banning, censoring or dragging the movies to court is not a new trend in India; the act of haltering the ‘freedom of speech' has far been in existence in the country.
The very first film banned by the Indian Government was ‘Neel Akasher Neechey' (Under the Blue Sky) in the year 1959. The film had explicit political implications due to which it suffered a ban of two years in the Independent India.
Directed by Mrinal Sen and produced by Hemanata Mukherjee, this Bengali language black & white film was set in the background of the last days of the British Raj in Calcutta. Starring Kali Bannerjee, Manju Dey and Bikash Roy, Neel Akasher Neeche revolved around the lives of a number of characters.
Though specifically, the film depicts the story of a poor Chinese hawker selling his merchandise, China silk, in the streets of Calcutta in the turbulent 1930's. Also, the movie focuses on the spiritual relationship between hawker and the main female character called Basanti.
The era of 1930's was a much difficult period for the China, which was warding off the brutal attack of the militarist Japan at that time. The intense time even annoyed the great poet Rabindranath Tagore, who wrote to his Japenese friend wishing for remorse for the Chinese.
Moving on, as we look at the India history, there are several movies which could not see the light of the day because of their ‘sensitive' storyline. Kissa Kursi Ka, Sikkim, Nine Hours to Rama, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom are the best examples of how stark realties of life were suppressed from coming in the public light.
