On the 83rd birthday of Gulzar saab, fans received a special gift; it was announced that his unreleased film Libaas will hit the big screen this year. The movie was made in 1988 and was shown at the International Film Festival at Bangalore in January 1992 and at International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa on November 22, 2014.
Though the film received accolades and appreciation at various film festivals, it was never released in India. The theatrical release of the movie was announced on Saturday by Zee Classic with its brand proposition Woh Zamaana Kare Deewana.
Here are some other movies from Bollywood which never got released:
Paanch (2001)
Director Anurag Kashyap's Paanch did not get a theatrical release as the Central Board of Film Certification frowned at its portrayal of violence and drug abuse. Just like Libaas, it has been screened at several film festivals since 2003.
Khabardar (1984)
The 1984-movie Khabardar was a film set in the backdrop of euthanasia. Amitabh Bachchan played the role of a doctor and Kamal Haasan as the ill patient. After 16 reels, the producers pulled off the project fearing that it would lead to a controversy.
Mohalla Assi(2015)
Sunny Deol's movie Mohalla Assi's release on 30 June 2015 was stayed by a Delhi court for hurting religious sentiments. Also, a FIR was filed against the lead actor Deol and director Chandra Prakash Dwivedi in Varanasi for the use of abusive language in the film. On 8 April 2016, it was banned by the CBFC.
Zooni (1989)
Zooni starring Vinod Khanna and Dimple Kapadia was Muzaffar Ali's historical biopic on the life of 16th century Kashmiri poet-queen Habba Khatoon. It starred Dimple and Vinod Khanna. Hindustan Times reported, "The project, however, came to an abrupt halt because of insurgency in Kashmir, where the film was being shot".
Chor Mandali (1983)
The last film of Raj Kapoor in which he teamed up with Ashok Kumar never got released. It was reportedly dubbed and completed but it never got released because of a dispute. Associate director Deepak Rawal reportedly said, "It has the swan songs of Kishore Kumar, Mukesh and Mohammed Rafi."
Untitled movie by Mrinal Sen
In 2010, Naseeruddin Shah told Hindustan Times that more than 30 movies of his never got released. Among them, the oldest film he talked about was directed by Mrinal Sen. Shah starred along with Om Puri and Shabana Azmi in the film. "We shot this movie more than 25 years ago in Jaisalmer. Om and I grew beards for more than a year to suit our caveman-like characters for it," he said.
