Razakar returns, with less gore and more Ranaut

Last time Razakar was about to release, it was tripped up by the BRS. Now, it is finally ready to show off its trailers—in Hindi as well as Telugu, apparently—today (10 February).

Flagging the latest round of fanfare off is Kangana Ranaut, expressly invited to the role by the movie's producer, Gudur Narayana Reddy—who is also an executive committee member of the state BJP unit.

Ranaut, perhaps, was required for her unmistakably right-wing views to sell the proposition to the less historically inclined of the Hindi-speaking audience, who may have never before encountered the real Razakars of the former Hyderabad state in their school texts or family folklore.

The film—ostensibly about the 'silent genocide' of Hindus during the regime of Mir Osman Ali Khan, the seventh Nizam of erstwhile Hyderabad state—is due to finally hit the box offices at a well-timed clip just ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. Not unexpected, that.

The producer told our National Herald correspondent that he expects a 1 March release in theatres.

Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis is the other 'star' expected as chief guest at the release function at the Taj Hotel, Mumbai. So far, so glam—and so speakingly political.

However, word is a bunch of censor cuts have been made ahead of the release due to concerns around 'gore'—and that includes the scene depicted in the triggering poster that is still the only image for Razakar: The Silent Genocide of Hyderabad on IMDb: a Hindu child or youth with a Brahmin's pigtail hairstyle, sacred thread and three parallel white lines on his arm (all upper-caste/savarna identity markers, of course) who is carried on a pike pierced through his middle.

On social media, the poster now seems to have been replaced by police officers in khakis surrounding a cottage instead (below).

Meanwhile, on IMDb, the movie still has a 26 January release date—now well overshot.

However, as far as publicity goes, perhaps the movie is doing a good part of its job without even having been released—enough of its central hypothesis has been bandied about with not even a trailer out yet.