''Unfreedom: Blemished light'' (Hindi title: ''Dagh Ujala'') is a 2014 Indian drama film by

Raj Amit Kumar Raj Amit Kumar is a filmmaker and writer known for his socio-political drama ''Unfreedom'' which is banned in India as it dealt with religious fundamentalism and violence against homosexuals. The film was released in the U.S. in 2015, and won ...

, which was released in North America on 29 May 2015. Faiz Ahmad Faiz's poem, "Ye Dagh Dagh Ujala", is the inspiration behind the film. The film stars Victor Banerjee, Adil Hussain. and Preeti Gupta. The story revolves around a Muslim fundamentalist in New York who kidnaps a liberal Muslim scholar with an intent to kill, while a closeted

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

in New Delhi kidnaps her bisexual lover with the intent of being together. Then the resulting torture and violence evokes a brutal struggle of identities against "unfreedom".

Cast

* Victor Banerjee as Fareed Rahmani * Adil Hussain as Devraj Singh, Leela's police officer father *

Bhanu Uday Bhanu Uday is an Indian film and television actor, best known for his role of Aryan Khanna, in STAR One's television series, ''Special Squad''. He played the role of Dr. Karan in Sony Pal's show ''Hamari Sister Didi''. He was also seen as Raj ...

as Hussain * Preeti Gupta as Leela Singh *

Bhavani Lee Bhavānī (also known as Bhāvya, Tulajā, Turajā, Tvarita, Aṃbā, Jagadambā and Aṃbē) is manifestation of Adi Shakti (Durga). Bhavani translates to "giver of life", meaning the power of nature or the source of creative energy. She is co ...

as Sakhi Taylor * Ankur Vikal as Najeeb *

Seema Rahmani Seema Rahmani is an American film actress, television presenter, writer, producer, director, singer, event host, poet, and a philanthropist. Early life While her family background links to Pune, India, Seema was born and raised in Kuwait. Her ...

as Chandra * Samrat Chakrabarti as Anees * Danae Nason as Jana *

Andrew Platner Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is frequently shortened to "Andy" or "Drew". The word is derived ...

as Mitch *

Danny Boushebel Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to the male name Daniel. It may refer to: People *Danny Altmann, British immunologist *Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer * Danny Baker (born 1957), English journali ...

as Malik * Dilip Shankar as Sameer * Alyy Khan as Alyy *

Kuldeep Sareen Kuldeep Singh' is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Kuldeep Bishnoi (born 1968), Indian Member of Parliament *Kuldeep Kumar (born 1950), Indian politician *Kuldeep Manak (1951–2011), Indian Punjabi singer *Kuldeep Pawar (1949� ...

as Janaka * Jatin Sarna as Janaka's Officer * Shayan Munshi as Anand, Sakhi's beau *

Swaroopa Ghosh ''War'' is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language vigilante spy action thriller film directed by Siddharth Anand, who co-wrote the film's script with Aditya Chopra, Shridhar Raghavan and Abbas Tyrewala.The film was produced by Aditya Chopra for Yash Raj ...

as Eiravati *

Yash Kansara Yash may refer to: People * Yash (name), including a list of people with that name * Yash (Kannada actor), Indian Kannada-language actor * Yash Dasgupta, Indian Hindi and Bengali film actor * Yash Birla, chairman of the Indian conglomerate Yash B ...

as young Hussain * Rayvin Disla as Jordan *

John Castaldo John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

as Morris *

Nalin Singh Ni'lin ( ar, نعلين) is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the central West Bank, located west of Ramallah. Ni'lin is about east of the 1949 Armistice Line (Green Line) bordered by Deir Qaddis, the Israeli settl ...

as Jishnu * Bubbales Sabharwal as Dr Malik *

Nikki Chawla Nikki may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Nikki (Barbie), a fashion doll in the Barbie toy line * Nikki (comics), a Marvel Comics character * Nikki and Paulo, from the TV series ''Lost'' * Nikki, the mascot of Swapnote * ...

as Alvina, Hussain's mother * Kedarnath as Fiamanullah *

Sudeep Solanki Sudeep Sanjeev (born 2 September 1971), also known as Sudeepa, is an Indian actor, director, producer, screenwriter, television presenter and singer, who primarily works in Kannada films. He has also worked in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil films. He i ...

as Jimmy, art buyer *

Darlene Heller Darlene may refer to: *Darlene (given name), people with the given name Darlene *Darlene (artist) Darlene Jean Pekul (born 1954, Wisconsin), now just known as Darlene (she legally dropped her surname in 1984), is an American artist and calligra ...

as Jessica *

Sachin Verma Sachin may refer to: * Sachin (given name), an Indian given name, including a list of people with the name ** Sachin (actor) (born 1957), Indian actor and filmmaker ** Sachin Tendulkar (born 1973), Indian cricketer Films * ''Sachein'', a 2005 Tam ...

as Hiresh * Manoj Bakshi as Prithu *

Vanya Joshi Ваня (''Vanya''), a male diminutive of the Russian, Croatian, Serbian, Bulgarian and other Slavic given names Ivan. It is the Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian and other Slavic form of John itself derived from a Hebrew name, meaning "God is graciou ...

as Ujas

Production

Hari Nair is the cinematographer of the film with Wayne Sharpe and Jesse Kotansky composing the soundtrack. Resul Pookutty did the sound design. Deepa Bajaj, who also was the post-production producer, worked on the publicity campaign and distribution of the film. In India, the Central Board of Film Certification refused to certify the movie for public release in India.

Censorship

In India, the film was refused certification by the Examining Committee. A revising committee of the

Censor Board The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory film-certification body in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India. It is tasked with "regulating the public exhibition of films under the provision ...

proposed cuts to the director,

. He refused and appealed against the Censor Board's demand for cuts to the Indian Government's Information and Broadcasting Appellate Tribunal FCAT. In response to his appeal, the authorities completely banned the film regardless of cuts. The news of the ban gained widespread coverage in the media. In a video released on April 9, 2015 on YouTube, Raj Amit Kumar states that the Censor Board should rate or certify a movie, instead of banning and offering cuts. He also said that he would keep sending signed petitions to the Prime Minister and Censor Board, until there is a real change. The director is seeking support from people who believe in freedom of speech.

References

External links

* * * * * {{mojo title, unfreedom Films about religious violence in India Films set in Delhi Films set in Uttar Pradesh Films set in Chicago 2010s Hindi-language films Indian LGBT-related films Lesbian-related films LGBT-related romantic drama films Indian political drama films 2014 films Fictional portrayals of police departments in India 2014 directorial debut films Indian romantic drama films 2014 LGBT-related films