Be it a community or a specific personality, controversies have been hounding filmmakers for ages. The recent one to face the wrath was Salman Khan’s ‘Loveratri’ starring Aayush Sharma and Warina Hussain. Since the original title was allegedly hurting religious sentiments, the title had to undergo a change and was christened as ‘Loveyatri’. But this isn’t an exclusive incident as we give you a rundown of six more films that changed the title in order to avoid controversies.
‘Padmavati’ to ‘Padmaavat’
Sanjay Leela Bhansali was recently in the spotlight for the ‘Padmaavat’ controversy. The original title being ‘Padmavati’ caused a huge uproar among communities in Rajasthan that objected using the name of the queen, thus threatening its release. From attacking actors in the media to things getting ugly on the streets, Bhansali had to finally surrender and declare a name change.
‘Raamleela’ to ‘Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela’
Unfortunately this wasn’t the first time for the ace filmmaker. The film ‘Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela’ which starred Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone as well witnessed a title change before its release. The film was initially named as ‘Raamleela’. A petition filed against the film accused it of hurting religious sentiments since the name in question is associated with Lord Ram and the audience would expect a religious film. But as we all know it was nothing close to the genre, and it was named ‘Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela’.
‘Jaffna’ to ‘Madras Cafe’
The Shoojit Sircar epic film ‘Madras Cafe’ starring John Abraham is a critically acclaimed film based on the incidents that led to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. However, the film’s original title was ‘Jaffna’ a place in Sri Lanka which had to be changed since it put the country in a bad spot.
‘Aman Ki Aasha’ to ‘Total Siyapaa’
The Yami Gautam and Ali Zafar starrer romantic comedy ‘Total Siyapaa’ is based on Spanish-Argentine movie ‘Only Human’. In the Indian version, Aman (Ali), a Pakistani falls in love with Asha (Yami), an Indian, which led to makers naming it ‘Aman Ki Aasha’. However, ‘Aman Ki Aasha’ is a popular social initiative started by The Jang group of Pakistan and The Times Of India in India. Due to copyright issues, the title had to be changed.
‘Singh Sahib the Great’ to ‘Singh Saab the Great’
Sunny Deol’s ‘Singh Saab the Great’ is based on a man who seeks revenge by reforming the antagonist. But the word ‘Saab’ was initially kept as Sahib which raised objections as it violated the Sikh traditions. The word ‘Sahib’ could only be used for the Jathedar’s of five Sikh Takhts and for the members of the Sikh clergy, occupying important positions in historical gurudwaras.
‘Billu Barber’ to ‘Billu’
Filmmaker Priyadarshan’s ‘Billu’ that featured Irrfan Khan and Shah Rukh Khan in lead role. The film was well received in its time, but very few know that the original title was ‘Billu Barber’. However, it received a backlash from the association of hair stylists which led to the makers in dropping the work barber from the film.
