Lights, sound and 113 cuts!

This is a first! A Kannada feature film is facing the vigilant eye of the Censor Board — more than 100 cuts have been suggested to make the film worthy of a public viewing!

Bettanagere starring Sumanth Shailendra and Akshay, directed by Mohan Gowda came under the scrutiny of the Censor Board and now, 113 scenes, including an entire song, have been chopped off! The film which is inspired by real life incidents of gangsters — Seena and Shankara, were nicknamed in keeping with their place of resident Bettanagere located in Bengaluru North. Of the two gangsters, Bettanagere Seena, one of the most dreaded rowdy-sheeters was killed in a police encounter.

Despite several titles registered after the Seena encounter, none of the projects kicked off. Now, Mohan Gowda has managed to pull it off. Undeterred by the Censor Board’s chopping board, the director has also changed the lyrics of a song which was deleted by the board but retained the original tune of the song. Incidentally, Sumanth Shailendra has another film up for release by his home production Bhale Jodi starring Shanvi Srivastav. Let’s hope, there is some film left for the audience after all the cuts!