Banned! (2019)

'Banned!' is a dystopian film, set in an imaginary future, when a Fascist government bans the songs and literature of Rabindranath Tagore and orders to shoot anyone singing the songs of Tagore. As the situation worsens, a group of young filmmakers, Gora, Sandip, Nikhilesh, Nandini and two children namely Amal and Sudha dare to stand against the government and start a movement. However, their 'illegal activities' soon get noticed by the police who shoot Sandip and Nandini along with some other Tagore lovers and arrest Gora to set an exemplary punishment. Sandip manages to escape to a village in Burdwan district with Amal and Sudha. They seek refuge at 'Sangeet Ashram', a school of music run by Gora's uncle who still secretly teaches Tagore's songs to the children of the village. Meanwhile, it becomes clear that Tagore's poem 'Bharat Teertho' is responsible for the ban as this poem describes India as a confluence of several cultures and races, and not as the land of a particular religious group. As Gora is sentenced to death, a mass protest rocks the city. Just before Gora's hanging, a huge crowd led by Amal, Sudha and other children from 'Sangeet Ashram' gather outside the prison and protest by singing Tagore's songs. But, at the Government's order, the police shoot at the unarmed protesters, leaving hundreds of deadbodies outside the prison. The film ends with a scarecrow guarding a closed 'Sangeet Ashram' at dawn as the morning Azan plays in the background.