Bollywood’s first ever gay rom-com banned in the United Arab Emirates and Kenya
The film is the first Bollywood movie to feature gay leads
By Steve Brown
Words: Steve Brown
Bollywood’s gay rom-com has been banned in the United Arab Emirates and Kenya.
Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (Extra Careful of Marriage) is the first Bollywood film to feature gay leads and follows the same-sex couple Kartik Singh and Aman Tripathi who struggle to convince Aman’s family they are a couple.
Although the ground-breaking film has been praised, the film’s director and writer Hitesh Kewalya has revealed the UAE and Kenya have both banned the movie.
While speaking to Reuters, Kewalya said: “Yes, it’s banned.
“I am just happy and proud that I live in a country where homosexuality has been decriminalised and we are able to make and watch films like these in a commercial space.”
The CEO of the Kenya Film Classification Board, Ezekiel Mutua, announced the ban and said in a statement: “The film is worse than the ones we have banned in the past as it has scenes involving children in homosexual practices and openly attempts to legitimize same-sex marriage.
“Homosexuality is illegal in Kenya. Further, Kenya is a God-fearing nation which places a great premium on family, an institution derived from a union between two people of the opposite gender.
“Those who want to consume such content can go and watch it in India where the film was done or any other country where homosexuality is permissible.
“Kenya will not be the dumping ground for all manner of filth that seeks to destroy the institution of family and our cultural identity.”
Watch the trailer below: