Bollywood films that changed their titles prior to their release

Controversies have never been away from Bollywood. People have time and again objected on its content, dialogue and even the titles of the films for various reasons. The recent one to face the brunt of the same was none other than Salman Khan’s ‘Loveratri’ starring Aayush Sharma and Warina Hussain. The actor had to reportedly change the title of the film from ‘Loveratri’ to ‘Loveyatri’ because allegedly it was hurting religious sentiments. Well, this is not the first time that a film had to undergo a name change before its release. Here we give you a rundown of films that had to go through a title change to avoid controversies.

Salman Khan had taken upon himself to launch his brother-in-law Aayush Sharma in Bollwyood. Following which, he was soon to be seen in an upcoming film titled, ‘Loveratri’ opposite debutante Warina Hussain.

The film recently ran into trouble when a court recently asked the police to register an FIR against Salman following a complaint that the title and content of the film hurt religious sentiments of Hindus.

Advocate Sudhir Kumar Ojha had reportedly taken exception to the title of the film, alleging that it is meant to make fun of the holy festival of Navaratri. He also claimed that he film's scheduled release on October 5 is likely to hurt the Hindu sentiments.

Following which, Salman took to his Twitter handle and announce the title change from ‘Loveratri’ to ‘Loveyatri’ on Tuesday.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s magnum opus starring Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor made the most headlines during the second half of 2017 and early 2018 until the film finally saw the light of the day in February this year. Right from its content to characterisation to songs to costumes to the very title of the film, everything was objectionable for the fringe groups protesting against the release of the film.

While filmmaker Bhansali tries his best to give clarification on the content front, he could not help but change the title of the film from ‘Padmavati’ to ‘Padmaavat’. The title, which initially was on the name of the Rajput queen, was changed to the name of the poem written on her as it was reportedly hurting the sentiments of the Rajput Karni Sena.

Even before ‘Padmaavat’, Sanjay Leela Bhansali was yet again in the soup for the title of his film ‘Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela’ which starred Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone in the lead roles. The film witnessed the title change for reportedly three times before it finally released in the theatres.

The film was initially named as ‘Raamleela’. A petition filed against the film accused it of hurting religious sentiments and also said that, since the term Ram Leela is associated with Lord Ram, movie-goers would expect to be watching a religious film. Owing to this, the name of the film was changed to ‘Ram-Leela’.

Later, just a few days before the film hit the theatres, the filmmaker changed the name to ‘Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela’.

Director Prabhudheva’s ‘R...Rajkumar’ starred Shahid Kapoor in the titular role along with Sonakshi Sinha in the lead. The film that was initially named as ‘Rambo Rajkumar’ suffered opposition from the makers of Hollywood film series ‘Rambo’ as they possess the copyright of the title.

This not only compelled the makers of the film to change the title of the film but also the name of the Shahid’s character in the film. Producer Viki Rajani and Prabhudheva had announced at the trailer launch that Shahid’s name in the film will undergo a change owing to the title change.

The film was then renamed as ‘R...Rajkumar’.

John Abraham starrer ‘Madras Cafe’ was critically acclaimed and loved by the audience. The film also starred Nargis Fakhri in a pivotal role. The makers of the film had initially named the film as ‘Jaffna’, a place located in Sri Lanka. However, naysayers claimed that the title of the film puts the place in Sri Lanka in a bad light and hence it should be changed.

The makers of the film then changed the title of the film from ‘Jaffna’ to ‘Madras Cafe’. Directed by Shoojit Sircar, the film is a political action drama film which dealt with Indian Army special officer who is appointed by the intelligence agency R.A.W. to head covert operations in Jaffna shortly after Indian peace-keeping force was forced to withdraw.

The film released on August 23, 2013.

Filmmaker Priyadarshan’s ‘Billu’ starred Irrfan Khan and Shah Rukh Khan in the lead role. The film had received appreciation from both audience and critics alike. The film, which was originally named as ‘Billu Barber’, received backlash from the association of hair stylists claiming that the word ‘Barber’ hurt their sentiments.

The makers of the film were given a choice to either drop the word ‘Barber’ from its title or replace the word with ‘Hairdressers’. Opting for the first option, Priyadarshan dropped the word ‘Barber’ from its title and then it just came to be known as ‘Billu’.

In order to make peace, for the pre-release promotional campaign, SRK had reportedly dropped the word out from the title.

Anil Sharma of ‘Gadar-Ek Prem Katha’ fame directed ‘Singh Saab the Great’ starring Sunny Deol in the lead. The film narrates the story of a man who decides to teach a lesson to the man, who ruined his life, by reforming him.

The Akal Takht had raised objections to the title, ‘Singh Sahib The Great’ on the grounds that it violated the Sikh traditions as apparently the word ‘Sahib’ could only be used for the Jathedar’s of five Sikh Takhts and for the members of the Sikh clergy, occupying important positions in historical gurudwaras.

The makers then changed the title of the film to ‘Singh Saab the Great’ and reportedly conveyed to Akal Takht jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh through email and fax message.

‘Total Siyapaa’ is a romantic comedy film directed by Eeshwar Nivas and written by Neeraj Pandey. The film starred Ali Zafar and Yami Gautam in the lead role. The screenplay is based on the Spanish-Argentine movie ‘Only Human’.

In the film, Aman (Ali), a Pakistani falls in love with Asha (Yami), an Indian. So the makers had originally named the movie predictably as, ‘Aman Ki Aasha’. However, ‘Aman Ki Aasha’ is a popular social initiative started by The Jang group of Pakistan and The Times Of India in India. And apparently, the two publications held the copyright of the term. Owing to this the film was renamed as ‘Total Siyapaa’.