Saala Khadoos will get to keep the “saala” in its title. Newbie director Sudha Kongara’s film had initially run into trouble with the Central Board of Film Certification, which had asked for three cuts, including the deletion of “saala” from the title. However, producer Raj Kumar Hirani stepped in and had the cuts rolled back, our sources claim.
“Hirani got in touch with his friends in the I&B ministry, and the next thing that happened was the CBFC was ‘told’ to allow the title. Two other cuts were also rolled back,” our source said.
One of those cuts pertained to a character in the film making a snide comment about a woman with “an itch between her legs”. “The CBFC objected strongly to a woman’s sexuality being referred to in this way, but that cut has also been removed after the ministry’s intervention,” our source said.
Incidentally, the word “saala” has been heard in Hindi cinema before. Thirty years ago, Dilip Kumar sang “Saala main to saheb ban gaya” in Sagina.
Three years ago, Sudhir Mishra’s film Yeh Saali Zindagi was also certified and released. Imran Khan’s song Pappu can’t dance saala became quite the party anthem as well.
