To beep or not to beep, that is the question. At least the question that Bollywood is preoccupied with. When censor board officials objected to the use of the word tawaif in Tees Maar Khan, director Farah Khan decided to delete the “offensive” word to ensure that her film received a U/A certificate. “One can’t help such things,” says Farah, explaining why she agreed to the cuts. “There were so many other cuts suggested, but thankfully, we’ve had to incorporate only three. I want the entire family to be able to watch TMK.”
There have been other instances too, of directors kowtowing to the censor board’s sensibilities to get the all important U/A certificate — which ensures that the film will not lose out on a lucrative younger audience. Prakash Jha’s Rajneeti and Dibakar Banerjee’s LSD have gone under the censors’ knife in the recent past as well. Director Mahesh Pandey had to drop the words videshi, bhaiyya and Marathi from his film 332 Mumbai to India so that he could get the U/A label.
But not everybody is willing to “make the cut”. Sudhir Mishra accepted an A certificate for Tera Kya Hoga Johnny rather than make certain changes. “What I’ve shown is a 100 times milder than what actually happens on the streets of Mumbai. We wanted this film to reach a wider audience and make them aware of an aspect of Mumbai that they don’t know about. But I’d rather go with the A certificate than compromise on the storytelling,” the director says.