Basil Joseph’s Maranamass banned in Saudi Arabia owing to presence of LGBTQIA actor in cast, makers cut scenes for release in Kuwait

In an unfortunate turn of events, debutant director Sivaprasad’s much-anticipated dark comedy thriller Maranamass, featuring Basil Joseph in the lead role and co-produced by renowned actor Tovino Thomas, has been reportedly banned in Saudi Arabia due to the presence of a queer actor in the film’s cast. Meanwhile, the film has also faced a setback in Kuwait, where the authorities have demanded that scenes featuring the actor be edited out before the movie can receive an approval for release.

Commenting on the backlash, director Sivaprasad stated that the actor’s gender was not a topic of concern for them even during casting. “We did not look at the gender of the actors before casting them. On the other hand, we also wanted to normalise LGBTQIA+ in the society,” he told The News Minute. Previously, movies such as Kaathal – The Core, Little Hearts, Monster and Oru Jaathi Jaathakam had also faced bans in countries under the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) owing to their content.

However, according to a statement issued by the makers, it appears that the movie’s team has complied with Kuwait authorities’ instructions and removed scenes featuring the said actor for the film’s release there. “To those watching Maranamass in Kuwait, a few scenes from the first and second halves of the film had to be removed due to censorship laws. We hope this won’t detract from your overall enjoyment of the movie. Kindly watch it in cinemas,” they noted.

Also starring Rajesh Madhavan, Siju Sunny, Babu Antony, Anishma Anilkumar and Suresh Krishna in key roles, Maranamass features cinematography by Neeraj Revi, editing by Chaman Chacko and music by JK. The film is set to hit screens on April 10, in direct competition with Deeno Dennis’ Mammootty-starrer Bazooka, Khalid Rahman’s Naslen-led Alappuzha Gymkhana and Adhik Ravichandran’s Ajith Kumar-starrer Good Bad Ugly.