India’s film censors have ordered that a documentary about the economist and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen be altered to remove words including “Hindu” “India” and “cow”, the director has said.

Suman Ghosh said he was told by censor board officials on Monday that his one-hour documentary about Sen, a Harvard professor and essayist, could be released only if certain words were bleeped out.

Those words reportedly included “cow”, “Hindu India”, “Hindutva” – a reference to the religious nationalist ideology of India’s ruling party – and “Gujarat”, the home state of the country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi.

“I was quite shaken,” Ghosh told NDTV of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) decision, against which he said he would be appealing. “I was shocked but I thought, I have to argue.”

Sen has declined to comment extensively, saying only: “If the government has any reservations, there can be dialogue.”

In the documentary, named after his book of essays The Argumentative Indian, Sen criticises what he sees as the “restricted vision” of India espoused by Modi’s rightwing nationalist party. The manifesto of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seeks to redefine India’s culture and institutions as inherently Hindu in nature, in contrast to the pluralist vision of the country’s first leaders.

In one reportedly censored scene, Sen lauds the value of vigorous argument and debate, in contrast to “chastising people for having mistreated a cow or some such thing”.

India has recently experienced a rise in deadly mob attacks on cattle traders, beef-eaters and dairy farmers, with most of the attacks waged by so-called cow vigilantes from fringe Hindu groups targeting Muslims. Cows are considered sacred by many members of India’s Hindu majority, and slaughtering cows or eating beef is illegal or restricted across much of the country.

As India’s film industry has developed, taking on more challenging themes, clashes with the censors have become more prominent. This week’s decision was the latest to draw accusations of political bias, especially since the appointment of a staunch Modi supporter, Pahlaj Nihalani, as chief censor two years ago.



The producers of An Insignificant Man, a documentary about the Delhi chief minister and bitter Modi critic Arvind Kejriwal, say they have been ordered by the censors to secure the approval of the prime minister’s office before their film can be released.



The censor board has not only been accused of political bias. Nihalani has also voiced his objections to depictions of homosexuality in film and once tried to issue a list of expletives he wanted banned.

In January, the censorship board refused to classify a Hindi film, Lipstick Under My Burkha, arguing that its content was too “lady-oriented” and contained audio pornography. The film, which explores the sexuality and struggles of four women in small-town India, was later cleared for release on appeal.

The producers of another film, Udta Punjab, about the epidemic of drug abuse in the titular Indian state, were last year ordered to make more than 90 changes – including any reference to Punjab. The Bombay High Court later overturned the board’s decision.

Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal and fierce political opponent of Modi, tweeted that the treatment of the Sen documentary reflected a broader climate of growing censorship in the country. “Every single voice of the opposition is being muzzled. Now, Dr Amartya Sen,” she said.

If somebody of his stature cannot express himself freely, what hope does the common citizen have 2/2 — Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) July 12, 2017

In June, prominent Indian journalists warned of an assault on freedom of expression after anti-corruption investigators raided the premises of the founder of NDTV, a liberal-leaning news channel that is among the more critical of the Modi government.

The CBFC has been asked for comment.