Even though Bollywood is relatively chaste and wholesome compared to other film industries, because Kuwait is a conservative Muslim country and, as a result, prefers its theatrical releases asexual and apolitical, some Bollywood films do get banned.
Here are the three blockbuster masala films that were banned in Kuwait thus far in 2018.
Padmavaat – 25th January, 2018
The shitstorm Padmavaat conjured up at the tail end of 2017 was unprecedented in Bollywood history. Bollywood stars had bounties on their heads and several states including Haryana and Gujarat actively sought for the film to be banned in multiplexes. Ultimately however, as does everything sensationalist in India, the dust subsided and the film went on to become immensely successful.
Unbeknownst to most, the film did get banned in Muslim-majority Malaysia and Kuwait, but for a wholly different reason. In India, it drew controversy for its supposed inaccurate depiction of the Rajput community whereas in Malaysia and Kuwait, it was banned because of its negative portrayal of Muslims.
Ain’t that a kick in the head.
Pad Man – 8th February, 2018
I don’t think Kuwait can handle a film about menstrual pads.
Veere Di Wedding – 1st June, 2018
The trailer was just short of 3 minutes but even in that short span of time, we saw straight-laced Kareena Kapoor Khan drop a ton of F bombs and girls talking openly about the birds and the bees.
The film’s adult content flies against the societal norms and traditions of Kuwait and thus, it was banned in multiplexes.
“banned in multiplexes” so was it released in single screens? & do we have single screens in Kuwait?
We do not have single screens in Kuwait except for a privately owned rooftop theatre in Salmiya called Cinemagic.