Why ‘Phule’ is facing censorship – though previous biopics of the reformer did not

The release of Ananth Mahadevan’s film Phule about the 19th-century anti-caste activists Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule was delayed this week as the filmmaker was asked to edit out overt references to caste – though these details are present in previous biopics of the reformers.

Nilesh Jalamkar’s Satyashodhak last year and PK Atre’s Mahatma Phule from 1954 depict the widely chronicled events that shaped Phule’s journey – the heckling he receives when he attends a Brahmin wedding, a Dalit boy being physically prevented from using a well, the support for Phule by progressive Brahmins, Phule’s adoption of a Brahmin orphan.

Both films contain references to specific caste groupings and other social and historical details that Mahadevan was reportedly asked to remove.

The difference, an academic said, may be in the language of the films. The other two films are in Marathi. Mahadevan’s Phule is in Hindi and is intended for a wider viewership.

“The attitude is, let Phule be only for the Maharashtrians,” the academic said. “He is not needed on a grand scale.”

In the upcoming film PHULE, a biopic of Jyotibai Phule, the Censor Board in India removed depictions of the very discrimination she fought. #CBFCWatch pic.twitter.com/bCCLMebQw5— Aroon Deep (@AroonDeep) April 9, 2025

Earlier this week, it was reported that the Central Board of Film Certification asked Mahadevan to edit out mentions of the...

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