It was catapulted to instant success. In the first fortnight the movie was said to have broken many box office records, even overtaking the all-time blockbuster Sholay's record in some distribution territories. Special shows in far-flung cinemas were running to packed house. A day after it was released in the territory, which encompasses most of Maharashtra and Gujarat, newspaper reports announced that the film had been banned by the Union Government. The Centre, according to the reports, had banned the movie for two months "for offending the guidelines relating to violence and cruelty" and also because it contained scenes of semi-nudity which were considered "offensive". The ban was startling on many counts. First, it is almost unheard of for the Central Government to take so drastic a step for a film that has already been passed by the Central Board of Film Censors (and Aawaz had been duly passed with an "A" certificate). Second, it is even rare for the Government to spring into action so swiftly (in this case, just two weeks after the film's release). And third, though the Government's action was ostensibly motivated by the excess of violence and vulgarity in the movie, the real reason, it seemed, had been spelled out two days before the ban on the floor of the Lok Sabha, then in session. Ghulam Nabi Azad, President of Youth Congress(I), stood up in Parliament to raucously demand the banning of the movie. Azad's objection was that the film depicted a Union home minister, home secretary and inspector-general of police as heading "a gang of smugglers and anti-social elements'" which, he concluded, was not only in "bad taste" but also defamatory. Azad further urged that exhibition of the film should be slopped at once and action taken against its producer. Two days later the movie was banned, apparently at Azad's behest. But no sooner was the ban enforced - ironically, both the show cause notice and suspension orders reached the producers on the same day - than the producer and distributor moved the High Courts in Bombay, Calcutta, Jabalpur and Jaipur to obtain stay orders on the Union Government's suspension. Top lawyers like Soli Sorabjee and Siddhartha Shanker Ray were hired to fight for the film's revival. Demand for the film rocketed, transforming it from a routine hit into a colossal blockbuster with public demand soaring to such heights that its exhibitors had to accommodate five shows daily. Thrust from virtual obscurity to instant fame, the runaway success of Aawaz was also championed by the media. Screen, the film industry's premier publication published a from page editorial by editor B.K. Karanjia called Aawaz Suni Jaa Rahi Hai. The Hindustan Times further deplored the banning in an editorial entitled ill-conceived ban and the Congress(I)-backed paper, the National Herald itself challenged the Union Government to retract its decision. Not only was the principle of superseding the Censor Board's judgment - itself a Government-appointed body - by the Central Government being questioned, even more crucial was the fact that the Government had obviously reacted following the paranoiac outburst of one politician. The Government had two choices: to unilaterally withdraw the ban at the cost of losing face insufferably, or to move the Supreme Court and obtain a stay on the stay order granted by four High Courts.
