After world premiering at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, director-producer Deepak Rauniyar‘s crime thriller “Pooja, Sir: Rajagunj” has finally released in its home country of Nepal, but not without hurdles.

The film is now in its second week in Nepali theaters, following a contentious battle with government censors that left the film with significant alterations.

Rauniyar’s first feature, “Highway,” premiered at the 2012 Berlinale and played Locarno, while his 2016 sophomore feature “White Sun” won awards at the Venice, Palm Springs, Fribourg and Singapore festivals. He is also a Berlinale Talents alumnus and his short film “Four Nights” played at Berlinale Shorts in 2022.

The politically charged film, which follows Detective Inspector Pooja (Asha Magrati) investigating a kidnapping in a fictional border town during the 2015 Madhesi protests, has been subjected to what Rauniyar calls “an attack on the fundamental right to freedom of speech guaranteed by the constitution.”

According to Rauniyar, among the most controversial cuts mandated by Nepal’s Censor Board was the removal of archival footage showing current Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli (who was also prime minister in 2015) dismissing Madhesi MPs who protested the draft constitution as “rotten mangoes.” Despite the filmmakers legally securing rights to use the publicly available clip, censors insisted on additional clearance from the Prime Minister’s Office — a requirement with no legal precedent, Rauniyar says.

The film is produced by Rauniyar and Magrati for Aadi Films, Ram Babu Gurung for Baasuri Films and Alan R. Milligan for Tannhauser Gate. The filmmakers considered challenging the decision in court but ultimately decided against it.

“No lawyer I consulted gave me confidence that a legal battle would be worth the risk,” Rauniyar tells Variety. “We had no idea how long it would drag on. Court appointments are politically influenced. Since this case directly involves the prime minister, it could be delayed indefinitely. We would lose the opportunity to show the film at home and to spark the crucial conversation on racial and gender discrimination — the very themes this film is about.”

Gajendra Kumar Thakur, the censor board chair who also serves as assistant secretary at Nepal’s Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, allegedly accused Rauniyar of inciting racial tensions without even viewing the film, the filmmaker says. In one heated exchange, Thakur allegedly shouted at the filmmaker, claiming the project provoked ethnic conflict.

The censorship directives extended beyond political content to language restrictions. The board mandated Hindi dialogue be subtitled, claiming it’s a foreign language not widely understood in Nepal — despite Hindi being commonly spoken among the country’s Madhesi community and Bollywood films regularly screening without Nepali subtitles, Rauniyar says.

The film team regarded this requirement as part of an “ultra-nationalist narrative based on anti-India sentiment, observing that the Nepali establishment has historically dismissed the 2015 Madhesi protests as foreign-instigated and has consistently compelled Madhesi people to demonstrate their loyalty to Nepal.”

Variety reached out to Thakur for comment but hadn’t heard back after 36 hours, by the time of going to press.

For the Nepal release, as a form of silent protest, the production team has visibly marked each censorship instance: “Where visuals were cut, we left black frames. Where sound was muted, the lips still move,” explains Rauniyar. “Our goal is to make sure audiences see exactly what was censored.”

The film has gained support from across Nepal’s political spectrum, with multiple MPs and former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai condemning the government’s actions. Fifteen prominent Nepali filmmakers joined Rauniyar at a protest event at Kathmandu’s Mandala Theater.

Despite these challenges, “Pooja, Sir: Rajagunj” is now being screened in Nepali theaters, while uncensored versions have been released in the U.S., U.K. and Canada.

The film is inspired by real events which took place in Southern Nepal during the 2015 race protests, involving the Madhesi community. In the film, when two boys are kidnapped in a border town in Nepal, Detective Inspector Pooja is sent from Kathmandu to solve the case. However, upon her arrival, the brewing political unrest and violent protests throw her off course, compelling her to seek help from Mamata (Nikita Chandak), a local Madhesi policewoman. By putting aside systemic discrimination and pushing through everyday misogyny, the women attempt to solve the case. The cast also includes Nepali cinema superstar Dayahang Rai.

Rauniyar says the film “exposes the state’s deep-seated prejudice against the Madhesi people,” adding: “The oppression persists, and it continues to silence a large segment of our population.”