The director of Oscar-nominated film The Voice of Hind Rajab has questioned India’s decision to block the acclaimed drama from being released in cinemas.
“Is the honeymoon between the ‘world’s largest democracy’ and the ‘only democracy in the Middle East’ so fragile that a film could break it?” Kaouther Ben Hania wrote on Instagram, referring to a distributor’s claim that the film was not cleared over concerns it could “break up the India–Israel relationship.”
Mumbai-based distributor Manoj Nandwana told Variety on Thursday that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) had declined to grant clearance because it was considered “very sensitive”.
“I told them the India-Israel relationship is so strong that it’s idiotic to think this movie will break it,” Nandwana said. “But they want to censor it anyway.”
Nandwana also told The Hindu that he was told the film would not be cleared “orally” by a member of the CBFC.
The Voice of Hind Rajab was nominated in the Best International Feature category at the Oscars held last week. It centres on the final recorded phone calls of Hind Rajab, a Palestinian child killed in Gaza by Israeli fire. It reconstructs the event from the perspective of the Palestine Red Crescent Society workers at the emergency dispatch centre trying in vain to save her, and utilises real voice recordings throughout.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Israel in February where he addressed the Knesset, saying: “India stands with Israel, firmly, with full conviction, in this moment and beyond.”
Politician and author Shashi Tharoor, a member of the opposition, called the censorship of The Voice of Hind Rajab “disgraceful”.
“In a democracy, screening a film is a reflection of our society’s freedom of expression and has nothing to do with government to government relations,” he wrote on X.
“This practice of banning films or books because of the offence they might cause to foreign countries must stop immediately. It’s unworthy of a mature democracy.”
