2 films okayed after extensive cuts: Centre tells high court

The Centre on Wednesday told the Punjab and Haryana high court that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) had cleared the films ‘Kyaa Super Cool Hain Hum’ after effecting 139 cuts and ‘Mastizaade’ after 381 cuts.

The information was given during the hearing of a petition filed by NGO Raksha Jyoti Foundation, seeking a ban on alleged vulgar scenes in these films.

Appearing for the Centre and CBFC, assistant solicitor general Chetan Mittal informed the court that in case of ‘Kyaa Super Cool’, the producer had voluntarily offered 107 cuts and 32 more were suggested by the CBFC, and after effecting 139 cuts, the film was given ‘A’ certificate and allowed to be released. The ‘Mastizaade’ producer volunteered 349 cuts and the CBFC suggested 32 more and it was cleared after 381 cuts, with ‘A’ certificate. ‘Kyaa Super Cool’ was released this Friday and ‘Mastizaade’ will hit cinema halls on January 29.

Mittal told the high court, “The contents/promos being shown on YouTube or internet in any digital form are not examined by the censor board as it has no control over the promos shown on internet,” adding that an undertaking was being taken from the film producers to ensure that the content that was deleted was not there in the promos.

The court was assured that a report as to whether the promos being aired on internet had any content that was deleted by the censor board would be placed before the court on Thursday. “When the censor board examines the contents of a movie, the scenes which are found to contravene the guidelines, such as double-meaning dialogues, vulgar, obscene visuals or any other dialogue/scene being derogatory or degrading to women in any manner, are deleted,” the court was told.

The high court adjourned the hearing for Thursday, giving the Centre time to produce the guidelines pertaining to approval of a film before release and the contents thereof.

Actors Riteish Deshmukh, Tusshar Kapoor, Sunny Leone and Bipasha Basu star in the films.

The high court had sought the Centre’s response as the petitioner NGO had alleged that the promos of these films were full of double-meaning dialogues and vulgarity and were creating embarrassing moments for families watching television together.