Savita Bhabhi is a pornographic cartoon character, a housewife. Her promiscuous behaviour is justified by her being ignored by her husband (Ashok). The title bhabhi (sister-in-law) is respectfully attached to first names of North Indian housewives. The character was promoted through a comic strip medium by anonymous people active in India. It has since been converted into a subscription-based strip owned by kirtu.com.
It proved controversial in the conservative Indian setting as soon as it was introduced. Some critics felt it represented the face of new India's ultra-liberal section.
The Savita Bhabhi Movie was released on May 2013; it deals with the subject of internet censorship in a humorous way with Savita Bhabhi as the heroine who saves the day.
There have been 66 episodes released (as of June 2016) plus 4 Goa extra adventures and 7 Savita @18 episodes.
"Wow, India has now joined the elite club of China, Iran, North Korea and suchlike in the area of Internet censorship."
Production of pornography is broadly illegal in India. As a result, the original website was censored by the Indian government under its anti-pornography laws. This was met with criticism from the likes of prominent Indian libertarian bloggers and journalist Amit Varma. Eventually the mainstream media columnists joined in criticizing the ban as reflecting a "meddlesome, patriarchal mindset" of a "Net Nanny" government. This resulted in an online movement to save the character from being destroyed.
Initially the creators of the site chose to remain anonymous, going under the assumed collective name Indian Porn Empire. However, in 2009, the creator of the site Puneet Agarwal, a second generation Indian living in the UK revealed his identity in an attempt to fight against the ban. However a month later, due to family pressure he announced his decision to take down the comic strip.
The presence of a character bearing a resemblance to Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan also met with criticism on Indian television channels.
UK-based businessman Puneet Agarwal has tried to bring back the Savita Bhabhi in the form of an animated movie titled Savita Bhabhi Movie