The censoring of the Bollywood film Phule, based on the lives of Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule, played by Patrik Gandhi and Patralekha, and directed by Anant Mahadevan, has led to an unusual controversy. Though there are many small films on these social reformers, this is the first major Bollywood film. The scheduled release of the film on Mahatma Phule’s birth anniversary (April 11) — later postponed to March 25 — would have gone well with the unanimous resolution of the Maharashtra Assembly recommending the country’s highest award, Bharat Ratna, to the couple on March 24.

If the Central Government accepts the proposal and awards them with Bharat Ratna, it will be the first-ever award to the 19th-century reformers. Earlier, it was mostly given to freedom fighters, post-Independence leaders and artists.

The Central Board of Film Certification’s (CBFC) direction to postpone the release and to implement cuts — removing words like Mahar, Mang, Peshwai, phrases like Manu Dharmic Society; scenes where........

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