Bollywood movie, Padmaavat banned in Malaysia over fear of religious unrest

The Malaysian film censorship board decided not to allow the screening of the much criticised Indian movie, Padmaavat, placing it in the “not approved list” which essentially means banned.

It was given a non-relevant remark which deems it likely to incite hatred.

But unlike the ban on “Beauty and the Beast” which caused a ruckus on the internet, Malaysians just expressed sadness, were speechless or were mostly uninterested in the ban.

In this day and age, a ban on a movie may mean a larger download activity for the movies on Kodi or other internet movie mediums.

However, the news of the ban on Al Jazeera’s facebook page was met with a spark in religious debate among the readers.

Some accused Muslims of being sensitive or that Islam is not a true religion, while some replied that India became better after the Mughals conquered the country.

The drag was full of religious spoilers from those posting their comments while they did not really show much anger or trivia against the Malaysian censorship board.

‘Padmaavat’ is seen as a controversial Hindi movie that features the relationship between a Hindu queen and a Muslim ruler in medieval India.

The Times of India has given the movie a 4 out of 5 rating. Since its launch in India on Friday, it has collected some 535 million rupees (RM32.6 million) at the box office.

India’s censorship board passed the film, based on the historical 14th century queen Padmavati modifications of the movie name to Padmavat, and constrained the film’s producers to run a disclaimer saying the movie does not “claim historical accuracy”.

Hindu groups, particularly in the states of Rajasthan and Maharashtra, have criticised the film’s makers for “distorting history” by showing Muslim ruler Alauddin Khilji as the “lover” of Padmavati who belonged to the Rajput warrior clan.

A leader of an Indian caste-related group had reportedly offered 50 million rupees (US$769,000) to anyone who “beheaded” Padukone or director Sanjay Leela Bhansali.