'See your Prime Minister on screen': What led to a ban on Gulzar's 'Aandhi' during Emergency

ANDHI" was run- ning in theatres in 1975 when lyricist- filmmaker Gulzar, who was in Moscow to present it at a film festival, received the news about the movie being banned in India. Set against the backdrop of elections, "Aandhi" is a love story between a hotel manager (Sanjeev Kumar) and his estranged wife, played by Suchitra Sen, who reconnects years later after she becomes a politi- cian.

- Author Saba Mahmood Bashir

Author Saba Mahmood Bashir's 2019 "Gulzar's Aandhi: Insights into the Film" sheds light on the controversy around the movie and the political climate in the country during its release.

Many had noted the similarities between prime minister Indira Gandhi and Sen's characters, including the white streak of hair, the attire and the walk but the then I&B ministry, headed by IK Gujral, found nothing objectionable in it and the movie was released in theatres in February.

Then on June 25, 1975, Gandhi declared Emergency.

In July the same year, Gulzar was in Moscow to present the movie at a film festival and that's when he got to know that. It had been in theatres for over 20 weeks at the time.

"He learnt that he would have to pull out of the show as the film had been banned in India. To be sure, it was a film magazine that had published a feature on 'Aandhi’, with the headline, ‘See your Prime Minister on screen’,” Bashir writes in the book.