Ayushmann's Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan Banned In UAE And Dubai Despite Makers' Request To Omit Kissing Scenes

As the Bollywood buffs in the country prepare to watch the very first commercial film on gay romance in theatres this Friday, there is some bad news for fans in UAE and Dubai. Ayushmann Khurrana and Jitendra Kumar starrer Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan has been banned in the Middle East.

The film is a romance between two men and hopes to destigmatizing homosexuality in the country and the very theme is the reason why the film was banned there. According to a Bollywood Hungama source, the fact isn’t all that surprising as the country has a stringent policy against films based on the subject.

The website quoted their source from Dubai saying, “We knew this was coming. Or, rather not coming. We really wanted to see what Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan has to say, since it is the first Bollywood film that normalizes a gay relationship. Sadly, all films with a gay content are banned in these parts.”

Reportedly, the makers tried to push the release of Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan offering to omit the kissing scene between the two leading men but even the request failed to make a difference in the matter.

Ayushmann Khurrana who is known for picking up tabbo subjects recently in a chat with PTI spoke about the film and said that he looked it more as an ‘introduction to homosexuality for the masses’ and added "We aren't delving so much in what's happening between the two (men), it's the reaction of the family when they come to know that their son is gay. But this treatment was important because it's the first step. We can't directly climb on the 10th step because people are still jittery about the subject," he said.

Clearly there still a long way to get a release for gay romances in Dubai no matter how the subject is approached.