Taapsee Pannu’s Thappad gets U certificate with no cuts

Bollywood star Taapsee Pannu’s upcoming film Thappad has already impressed a lot of people with special screenings and it has received another shot in the arm with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) awarding it with a U (unrestricted) certificate without any cuts.

Among the three kinds of certificates given by the CBFC - U, U/A (unrestricted public exhibition subject to parental guidance for children below the age of twelve) and A (restricted to adult audiences), U is the most sought after by producers. It means the film is fit for viewing for audiences of all age groups, widening its reach. There is a fourth category - S (restricted to specialized audiences such as doctors or scientists), but that is limited to specific movies.

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Director Anubhav Sinha has produced the film that will be released at a reel length of 144.28 minutes - a little less than 2.5 hours of run time.

Thappad is about a homemaker who refuses to stay with her husband after he slaps her. The main reason for such a smooth CBFC certificate could be that the filmmakers have not focussed on displaying violence in the film, despite essentially addressing the rampant issue of domestic violence in our society.

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Taapsee recently told Hindustan Times in an interview, “We deliberately refrained from making it into an excessive domestic violence film because then people might try to disconnect with it, saying ‘Yeh hamare ghar pe nahi hota. Yeh hum upper middle class ya educated logo ke ghar pe nahi hota hai’. Hota sab ghar mein hai and so it was deliberately kept like that.”

Anubhav’s last film -Ayushmann Khurrana starrer Article 15 that hit theatres last year, had the CBFC suggest four-five modifications before they handed the UA certificate to the makers.

Among the modifications suggested by the CBFC were the removal of a visual of a flag falling in fire, replacing a sexually abusive word with ‘saala’ and a derogatory word directed towards parents with ‘karamjali’, and reducing by 30 per cent the visuals of beating people.

Thappad also features Pavail Gulati and Kumud Mishra and will release on February 28, Friday.

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