India, July 10 -- The police officer in Hindi cinema, as fabled, heroic or vigilante-like as he's always been, is now also a character India protects like its wronged child. Or does the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), notorious for censoring more than certifying, take that one dialogue of the nocturnal vigilante avatar of Inspector Vijay in Tinnu Anand's Shahenshah (1988) - "Rishtey mein toh hum tumhare baap lagte hain" - so seriously that it feels compelled to protect the police?

Just this year, two films came into the spotlight when it was decided Indian audiences couldn't watch them because the police looked unflattering in the story. The first is Sandhya Suri's feted debut Santosh, which The Guardian calls "an unflinching...