Controversy engulfs Manoj Bajpayee’s ‘Ghuskhor Pandit’, Neeraj Pandey’s gritty tale of a venal policeman bearing the moniker. Brahmin organizations decry it as a slur on their community, organizing rallies and threatening legal action to force a title overhaul.
Bollywood’s tryst with provocative titles is legendary, from street protests to censor scissors, compelling changes to avert disasters.
Charting the saga: 2023’s ‘Satyaprem Ki Katha’, directed by Samir Wived, starring Kartik Aaryan and Kiara Advani, shed its devotional ‘Satyanarayan Ki Katha’ tag after piety watchdogs cried foul on the lovers’ journey.
Akshay Kumar’s 2020 supernatural romp ‘Laxmii’ was defused from ‘Laxmi Bomb’ amid outrage over deifying explosives and promoting interfaith romance via a vengeful trans spirit.
In ‘Thank God’ (2022), Ajay Devgn’s portrayal of Chitragupta in a divine wager with mortals prompted a rename to ‘CG’, easing Hindu groups’ fears of blasphemy.
Salman Khan’s ‘Loveyatri’ (2018) danced around Navratri offense by altering ‘Loveratri’, launching Ayush Sharma and Warina Hussain’s Garba-fueled courtship.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali weathered storms for ‘Padmaavat’ (2018), morphing ‘Padmavati’ and trimming content post-Karni Sena’s assaults on the historical romance of valor and invasion.
A decade prior, his ‘Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela’ (2013) armored ‘Ramleela’ with gunfire references, defusing religious tensions in Ranveer-Deepika’s passionate gangland adaptation of classic tragedy.
‘Ghuskhor Pandit’ joins this notorious list, illustrating how India’s film industry navigates the minefield of nomenclature, where one word can unleash a torrent of societal scrutiny.