Movie Shelved for Offending Christians in India 'In the name of The Father and The Son'
A Christian film in India "Pithavinum Puthranum" (In the name of The Father and The Son), is trapped behind censor boards because of offensive attitudes toward Christianity and may not be released.
"The board is an independent body that works under statutory stipulations. The film violates some of the guidelines that we follow during certification. We felt that people from a particular religion would find the film's theme and certain visuals derogatory," said T. Madhukumar, officer in Thiruvananthapuram and a member of the film sensory board.
The four members watched the film a week and implied that even if cuts were made to the film it would still be in violation. The India filmmakers have felt they just supplied a "human story" without discussing and being judgmental to Christianity, The Deccan Herald reports.
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The original title of the film was, "Pithavinum Puthranum Parishudhaatmavinum" (In the name of The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit), which initially faced backlash from Christian groups forcing the "Holy Spirit" drop in the name.
"The protests, however, reached us long before the film was submitted. The denial of certification has no connection with them," said Madhukumar.
The director, T. Deepesh, is becoming increasingly frustrated by the negative reactions to his movie and is not budging on making changes reports The Deccan Herald.
"We submitted the film on May 13. The normal certification time is three to four days but the board members watched my film 23 days later. It's baffling that a film watched in its entirety only by me and my producer can attract protests even before it is submitted for certification," the filmmaker said in a statement.
"Things would've been different had we made this a comedy or a mindless entertainer and not the thinking, serious film that it is," he said as he prepares to go to the revision board.
