Should Empuraan Be Censored Or Banned?

“Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable”
–César A. Cruz

March 27th, 2025. Release of the highly-awaited sequel, L2-Empuraan.

Amidst the exhilarating applause and fans screaming their hearts out for their beloved cinema, there were a bunch of people who felt uncomfortable.

They walked in expecting the usual mass scenes and mundu madakki-kuthu of Mohanlal. So naturally when Empuraan began showing the Godhra riots of 2002 and the perpetrator Baba Bajrangi, many squirmed.

The same people who proudly clapped over “ninde thantha alla ende thantha” in Lucifer, began behaving like their thantha was insulted in Empuraan.

My stance remains the same as it did when Kerala Story came out – Stop banning movies that you disagree with. It’s a democracy, not anyone’s thantha’s personal kingdom. Here people can say what they want, where they want, and when they want. And those who don’t agree, can very well speak against it and go on the roads holding placards in protest.

The day we start to censor and put people behind bars for questioning the political structure of the country is when we truly lose sense of what democracy means. For those who are still adamant about dissecting Empuraan based on political leanings, let’s at least try and do it right.

The Right to Make a Movie

Article 19(1)(a): All Citizens have the right to freedom of speech and expression.

Every person in this democratic country has the right to express their views and opinions freely.

Now, here’s the thing about Empuraan’s writer. It’s Murali Gopi, and for those who don’t know, he’s a journalist turned screenwriter. A very volatile combination.

One look at this man’s filmography, and it’s easy to understand that his political opinions are loud and straightforward.

One of his earliest movies – Left Right Left, is a political drama with communism in Kerala set as the base. The movie brilliantly showed the current issues faced by society and asked a very raw question “Who is a real ‘communist’?”.

It drew a lot of flak for its resemblance to real-life characters with rather obvious and unapologetic references to Pinarayi Vijayan and VS Achuthanandan. Did the movie fade into oblivion? No, it went on to gather cult status as one of the finest political thrillers along with a bunch of Kerala State Film Awards, South Indian International Movie Awards, and Filmfare Awards among others.

Fast forward to Empuraan, we see Gopi continuing his bold story-telling and this time he chose to criticise every major political party in the country. With a focus on BJP’s attempts at establishing their extremist-Hindu narrative in the Communist-Congress love child Kerala, he offers a political thriller laced with a lot of slow motions and mass scenes.

While I’m surprised Empuraan saw daylight in our questionable democratic setting, I’m beyond glad that someone picked up this conversation to such a scale in Malayalam cinema.

Disclaimer: Empuraan is a work of fiction (not)

Movies began putting up these disclaimers fearing defamation suits and legal controversies. Murali Gopi put up the disclaimer and did not hold back.

2002 Godhra Riots. The brutal and horrendous ethnic cleansing and mass murder orchestrated by one of the most important men in the country.

Even though the Hindu extremists tried burying the incident under a saffron shroud, the city of Ahmedabad burned and the smoke was felt all over the country.

Every now and then some self-righteous and pompous RSS member would proclaim how he enjoyed killing people in 2002.

Among one such man is Babu Bajrangi – the real-life character that inspired Empuraan’s antagonist, Baba Bajrangi. Many people’s issue with the character and the story is that it is an “anti-Hindu political agenda”.

So here’s looking at this impeccable saint figure Babu Bajrangi, who upholds pro-Hindu politics:

Booked for spreading enmity and communal hatred.
Sentenced to life imprisonment for the Naroda Patiya Massacre.
The central figure of 2002 Godhra violence.
Takes pleasure in mass murders. Was ordered to be “shot at sight” for his crimes.
The first two judges sentenced Bajrangi to be hanged, so naturally the judges were changed.
He’s been granted over 14 bails because of ‘poor health’ and was accompanied by a bodyguard at all times within the Sabarmati Central Jail.
Speaks of communal violence with a joy that I can only associate with a psychopath left untreated.

To get a better idea of this man’s idea of living life to the fullest, here’s what he said during a hidden-camera interview, “We didn’t spare a single Muslim shop, we set everything on fire, we hacked, burned, set on fire, we believe in setting them on fire because these bastards don’t want to be cremated, they’re afraid of it. I have just one last wish. Let me be sentenced to death, I don’t care if I’m hanged, just give me two days before my hanging and I will go and have a field day in Juhapura where seven or eight lakhs of these people stay … I will finish them off.”

Documentaries, interviews, reports – all are available to know that Murali Gopi gave you the story of a man who very much exists among us.

While many have absolutely no issues watching this man walk free with blood on his hands, why is it that we should hesitate to tell his story as it is?

If the truth is too unsettling, maybe we should start questioning the system that lets such men go scot-free.

Right to not be Censored

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), is a body that regulates film certification in India. More commonly known to us as ‘the Censor Board’, because at some point they began censoring movies more than simply certifying them.

🎭 Murali Gopy on Censorship in Indian Cinema! 🎬

"In a democratic state like India, we must question how censorship came to be… Bold, experimental films like Pulp Fiction aren’t made here because of the censor board." – Murali Gopy 🔥

🤔💬 #MuraliGopy #Empuraan #Mohanlal… pic.twitter.com/h4G8KkR1FB
— Rajesh Sundaran (@editorrajesh) March 31, 2025

Going through this rite of passage, Empuraan was initially recommended two to three cuts in the film. Based on CBFC’s suggestions the filmmakers trimmed down the sexual and physical violence scenes against women and children. An understandable trim of 10 seconds.

Then came the Bhaktan’maarde outrage claiming the movie is “anti-right-wing”.

Yes, it is.

In fact, it is anti-every religion brought into politics.

Anti-absolute power.

At times even Anti-Michele Menuhin.

However, none of the other people mocked in the movie seems to want to impose a lifelong ban on the movie or ask Menuhin to stop catwalking into missions.

An interesting report on Film Censorship worth remembering at this point is the Khosla Committee. Retired Justice GD Khosla submitted a report in 1969, which wished to get rid of the domination of the central government on film censorship. Back then he had noted that interference by the Government and the ‘lack of responsibility’ of examining committee members were a threat to the board and its efficiency.

An “independent and autonomous Board of Film Censors” was Khosla’s swapnam for Kinnashery.

Unfortunately, our media culture is such that we continue to have an array of pro-right-wing movies released right around every election season. Template movies just chanting “East or West, our Prime Minister is the best.”

So in a land of propaganda, dissent sometimes needs to be the Louder deviL.

“Misrepresentation is less likely to succeed”

BJP State President Rajeev Chandrasekhar conveyed how he does not plan on watching Empuraan. He strongly believes movies that misrepresent facts are less likely to succeed.

Much respect to the State President for taking a decent stand and deciding not to watch something that doesn’t align with his ideologies.

However, if it’s about a successful attempt, I think Empuraan’s already made its mark with the pre-booking numbers. To add more fuel to this, BJP and Sangh Pariwar created quite a noise with their negative publicity.

Ee publicity okke kond poyi evde vekkum Team-L?

Empuraan scored well in terms of technicalities but fell short in terms of a convincing screenplay. With all the noise that Hindutva teams are making, I’m starting to believe it takes absolutely nothing to trigger these snowflakes.

I also strongly think that they’re angry over the wrong reasons. A good share of Malayalis are honestly just pissed over valid reasons like

Why did Mohanlal go around playing “Flames ” by writing “L” everywhere?
What is this random white woman doing walking in slow-mo and laying traps nobody ever seems to fall in?
What did Nyla read after taking over the prime time without a script?
Why is Perumbavoor’s son walking in slow motion?
WHY IS EVERYONE WALKING IN SLOW-MO?

If Mohanlal ever needed to apologise to his "beloved fans", it should have been for Aarattu, Alone, and Monster—not for #Empuraan.
— Siddharth (@DearthOfSid) March 30, 2025

Art should be unapologetic.

The movie feels like a magnum opus dark comedy waiting to happen in real time.

The only exception is that, in real life we have Stephen apologising because he doesn’t want his actions to make “people” uncomfortable. Absolute Power to Absolute Pookie.

One thing I was glad about was the stand several politicians and artists took in support of the movie.

Actor Asif Ali stated “It is up to us to decide how much influence a film should have. That decision should be in our hands.”

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said, “This is yet another example of a growing pattern where coercion and intimidation are used to silence dissent – tactics that have always been hallmarks of authoritarianism. Undermining creative freedom through fear and threats strikes at the very core of democracy.”

However, with all the mob drivel happening around the right-wing representation, the cast and crew were pushed to post apologies and agree to further cuts in the movie.

The move did drive in accusations of hypocrisy, but here’s my two cents on it – the pen’s definitely strong, but not when the other side is a bunch of people who can’t set aside religion from politics. Then, it’s a lot easier to retreat than watch your dream project get tanked.

Except for Murali Gopi who wished a “Happy Eid” to all amidst this drama. We truly hope the movie’s box-office collection brings in a Happy Eid to the crew.