Laxmmi Bomb and 6 other Bollywood’s films who changed their title due to controversy

Bollywood films and controversies go hand in hand these days, especially in times like these where filmmakers have to massage everyone’s ego, creativity has surely gone for a toss. But this scrutiny of Bollywood films has been around for a while and it has only led to a lot of films succumb to its pressure. The latest one to bow down to this pressure is Akshay Kumar and Kiara Advani’s upcoming film Laxmmi Bomb which is now called Laxmii.

What was the Laxmmi Bombay controversy?

Akshay Kumar’s Laxmmi Bomb that is slated to release on 9th November has so far faced three controversies. The latest was from the Hindu Sena who took objection to the film’s title. They said that the horror-comedy’s title is mocking the Hindu goddess Laxmi. While they had written to the Information and Broadcasting Minister demanding the film’s titled to be changed, they even asked the Hindu community to boycott the movie if their demand wasn’t accepted. According to the Hindu Sena, the name of the film was very derogatory and offensive for the goddess of fortune and wealth. And while this was unacceptable to the Hindu community, the usage of the word bomb has also been taken as something to provoke the community. As a result of this, the makers of the film decided to change the film’s title and have dropped off the word bomb. Now the film is only called Laxmii. 

6 other Bollywood films have also changed their title last minute due to controversy, check them out…

Padmavati became Padmaavat

In 2017-18, the Sanjay Leela Bhansali film starring Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, and Ranveer Singh faced opposition from several fringe groups, including Karni Sena who objected to a lot of things in the film. From the story to the costumes to the songs and even the title was heavily criticized, keeping the film in controversy till its release. While initially the film was named after the Rajput Queen and called Padmavati, but after the Rajput Karni Sena objecting to the film’s title hurting their sentiments filmmaker, SLB changed the film’s title to Padmaavat. 

Loveratri became LoveYatri

This film which marked Salman Khan’s brother-in-law Aayush Sharma’s debut in Bollywood faced some legal trouble when a court asked the police to register an FIR against the film and Salman based on a complaint. As per the complaint, the film’s content and title were said to hurt the religious sentiments of the Hindus. In fact, an advocate took objection to the film’s title stating that the title made fun of the Navratri festival. Following these objections, Salman Khan changed the film’s title to LoveYatri. 

Goliyon ki Raasleela Ram Leela was initially called Ramleela

This Sanjay Leela Bhansali film starring Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh faced a title change not once but thrice. At the very start, the film was called Ramleela, but a petition was filed against the film stating that it would hurt religious sentiments and also misguide viewers since Ramleela was associated with Lord Ram and people would expect to watch a religious film. Due to this, the film’s title was changed to Ram-Leela, however, closer to the release the makers renamed the film Goliyon ki Raasleela Ram Leela for reasons unknown. 

Billu was initially called Billu Barber

This Irrfan Khan, Lara Dutta, and Shah Rukh Khan starrer Billu Barber was critically acclaimed. However, the film received backlash from the hairstylist association and the hairstylist community stating that the word Barber and its representation with the word ‘hajam’ in the film was hurting the sentiments of the community. Following this objection director, Priyadarshini decided to drop the word barber from the film’s title. 

Rambo Rajkumar became R…Rajkumar

The Pradhudeva directed R…Rajkumar that starred Shahid Kapoor and Sonakshi Sinha in lead roles was initially named Rambo Rajkumar. But Hollywood filmmakers of the movie Rambo objected to Shahid Kapoor’s film’s name since they had the copyrights of the title. As a result of this not was the film’s title changed to R…Rajkumar, but even Shahid Kapoor’s character in the film was renamed. 

Madras Cafe was first named Jaffna

John Abraham and Nargis Fakhri’s film was loved by the audience, but there were some hurdles this film had to face. The makers had initially named the film Jaffna, which is also a place in Sri Lanka. But a lot of people raised objection to the titled stating that it showed Sri Lanka in a bad light. As a result of this objection, the makers changed the film’s name to Madras Cafe. 

Written by Nawaz Kochra