'Padmaavat' joins list of banned films in Malaysia

Justifying its tough stance, Malaysia's National Censorship Board (or LPF) said the film's plot "gave a bad image about Islam through the role played by a (Muslim) sultan." "He is portrayed as a Sultan who is arrogant, cruel, inhumane, devious with all kinds of trickery, unreliable and who does not fully practice Islamic teachings," the nation's home ministry said in a statement.

Bollywood films are popular in Malaysia, where ethnic Indians make up around seven percent of the country's 32 million people. The government's move means many Malaysians may not be able to watch Padmaavat. But it is not the first film to succumb to the censors' scissors, as authorities have often cracked down on foreign movies that they claim to offend religious or cultural sensitivities.

Other films that failed to make the cut or were subject to heavy editing by Malaysian censors included Schindler's List, for reflecting "the privilege and the virtues of a certain race only." The ban was overturned later and a DVD version was released after several violent and nude scenes were cut, to the disgust of director Steven Spielberg.

The film was initially banned because the adventures of its porcine protagonist affected the sensibilities of Malaysia's Muslim-majority population, for whom pigs are taboo. Furthermore the word "babe" sounds very much like the Malay word for pig, which is "babi." It was later approved for DVD release.

Besides deeming the film as "too violent," government representatives were quoted as saying that the film might encourage youngsters to "hero worship someone with a devil-sounding name."

Depicting Malaysia as impoverished and dependent upon sweatshops, this film was deemed "definitely unsuitable" by the censorship board. The film's plot, which also saw Ben Stiller's character, Derek Zoolander, being persuaded to assassinate the Malaysian prime minister, didn't sit well with the board either.

The film was banned following protests for featuring a human being (Morgan Freeman) as God, which is prohibited in Islam. It was eventually approved for DVD circulation. Its 2007 sequel "Evan Almighty" also courted controversy as it took a comic view of the biblical great flood and the Prophet Noah.

Initially banned because of "religious sensitivities," another justification for censorship was that the film depicted prophets on-screen who are also mentioned in the Quran. It was later allowed to be released on DVD and was specifically labeled, "for Christian audiences only and private viewing."

Sex, drugs and 506 mentions of the F-word, doesn't really make this a surprising ban candidate. It was produced by Red Granite Pictures, an American film finance and production company co-founded and chaired by Riza Aziz, stepson of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. The company is now the subject of probes into the 1MDB scandal.

"It is un-Islamic for anyone to act out any portrayal of a prophet. If it is an issue to draw pictures of a prophet, why is a movie different? Of course this is prohibited, it is prohibited in Islam," the head of the LPF was reported to have said. Similar grounds were cited for the banning of Dreamworks' first animated musical, "The Prince of Egypt," in 1998.

While no official reason was cited in Malaysia for the banning of a film covering a gender reassignment operation, the decision was similar to those in other Muslim-majority countries like Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, where the story's "depravity" caused much protest.