The Central Board Of Film Certification has been extremely cautious when it comes to portrayal of religious deities in Cinema. Recently, the CBFC has issued an A certificate to a Hugh Grant movie, called Heretic.
The film is a psychological thriller, and revolves around two young missionaries, who become trapped in a deadly game of cat and mouses. Some conversion scenes in the movie included some audio and visual content about Lord Krishna, hence those, and a scene in which one sees Hugh Grant throwing some religious books, have been deleted.
It was not so long ago, the CBFC received flak for a scene in Oppenheimer showing a woman making a man read the Bhagavad Gita, during an intimate scene.
While on Heretic, Grant had exclusively told ETimes, “Over the last 8-10 years, I’ve become addicted to playing freaks, and I have to up it each time, get my dose like any addict.”
Grant, previously associated with romantic comedies, has successfully transitioned to more nuanced, darker roles departuring from his previous persona. Grant has actively worked to distance himself from his Notting Hill persona. As he expressed to Andy Cohen in 2015, “I get very annoyed when people think that I am … a polite gentleman. I’m quite a nasty piece of work, and I think people should know that.” His recent performances demonstrate this transformation, featuring increasingly complex and antagonistic characters.
From his performance as Phoenix Buchanan in Paddington 2 to Jonathan Fraser in The Undoing, Grant has successfully embraced darker narratives. Heretic represents his most calculating role yet. Grant describes his role as a “fascinating and daring synthesis of horror and psychological thriller.”
Heretic is crafted by A Quiet Place creators Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. The film features Hugh Grant portraying the mysterious Mr. Reed, alongside Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East as missionaries caught in a perilous survival situation. The narrative centres on Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East), whose ordinary missionary work takes a sinister turn after an unfortunate door knock. Their innocent interaction spirals into a dangerous psychological confrontation with the sinister Mr. Reed.