India blocks Oscar-nominated Hind Rajab film
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- India's Central Board of Film Certification blocked the theatrical release of "The Voice Of Hind Rajab," with a board member telling distributor Manoj Nandwana of Jai Viratra Entertainment the film would "hamper India's relations with Israel" — though no official denial was issued, AFP reported on March 21.
- "The Voice Of Hind Rajab", directed by French-Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, dramatizes the real-life killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab in Gaza in 2024 as her family tried to flee; the film was released "all over the world, including in Israel" yet was barred in India, according to the distributor.
- Congress parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor condemned the block as "disgraceful," arguing that screening a film reflects a society's freedom of expression and "has nothing to do with government-to-government relations," and that banning films to avoid offending foreign countries "must stop immediately."
- The film was previously screened at an international festival in Kolkata in November 2025, according to the distributor, making the current nationwide block a reversal within months.
- "The Voice Of Hind Rajab" was nominated for Best International Feature at the 2026 Oscars (losing to Norway's "Sentimental Value") and won the Silver Lion grand jury prize at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, where its premiere left audiences in tears.
- India has expanded ties with Israel in defence, agriculture, technology, and cybersecurity, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Israel for two days in February — his second trip since 2017 — days before a US-Israeli strike on Iran.
Why it matters: A film released in Israel itself was blocked in India, the world's largest film market by ticket count, on the stated ground of protecting diplomatic relations — a position opposition MP Shashi Tharoor branded "unworthy of a mature democracy." The decision exposes a tension between India's expanding strategic partnership with Israel and its long-stated support for Palestinian statehood, while testing how far New Delhi will go to shield bilateral ties from cultural products. The absence of any official notification to the distributor also leaves the censor board's reasoning legally opaque.
