“Manmarziyaan” has landed in fresh controversy over the deletion of three smoking-related scenes with director Anurag Kashyap expressing a strong displeasure over the move, implying that he was not consulted about the decision. The scenes in question had upset a certain section of the Sikh community and Kashyap, who is out of the country, had on Wednesday issued a “genuine” apology to those who were hurt genuinely.
The makers had apparently approached the censor board to chop off the alleged objectionable scenes from the film, starring Taapsee Pannu, Abhishek Bachchan and Vicky Kaushal. Kashyap vented out his anger against the move on Twitter, calling out Eros International, who are the presenters of the film.
“Before my tweet is taken down – Congratulations. Here by all problems of Punjab are solved and Sikh youth have been saved . Happy to be back in LaLa land again. Next time you are threatened by a film please call Kishore Lulla directly… Eros knows how to solve matters in minutes,” he tweeted.
The director had posted Lulla’s number in an earlier tweet but it was deleted as it was found in violation with Twitter’s privacy policy. In a statement, Eros, without addressing Kashyap’s grievances, said Colour Yellow Productions, run by director Aanand L Rai, was the creative producer.
“Colour Yellow is the creative producer on ‘Manmarziyaan’. We have the deepest respect for all communities and it is our intention to maintain neutrality and never intentionally hurt or disrespect any religion or community.
“We have the greatest respect for the law of the land and follow and implement all guidance of the Censor Board which is the supreme authority for film content in the country,” Eros said in its statement.
“Manmarziyaan” producers deleted three scenes from the film after members of the Sikh community objected to a scene where Abhishek Bachchan’s character, a Sikh in the movie, is shown smoking after removing his turban. The producers approached the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) regarding the deletion of the scenes.
According to a censor copy, the three deleted scenes include a 29-second smoking sequence of Abhishek, a minute long scene featuring Taapsee Pannu and Abhishek entering a gurudwara and an 11-second scene where Taapsee is shown smoking.
Taapsee also took to Twitter and lashed out at the move. “I am sure this edit will assure that no Sikh will ever Smoke and no woman will ever think about ANYONE else while getting married in a Gurudwara. THIS surely will make Waheguru proud and assures that MY religion is the purest,most righteous and peaceful ! #Proud” Taapsee tweeted.