It looks like the sanskaari days are back at the censor board. In a move that would most certainly make the former CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani smile, the new supposedly-liberal censor board, under the stewardship of Prasoon Joshi, has clamped down heavily on a majority of the expletives, cuss words and profanities said by Shahid Kapoor in Kabir Singh.
This dazzling demonstration of prudishness is in spite of the fact that Kabir Singh has been stamped with an ‘A’ certificate. Curiously, the same level of unparliamentary language was permissible in the blockbuster Arjun Reddy, the Telugu film which inspired Kabir Singh. Not to mention Sandeep Vanga directs both the Telugu and Hindi versions of the film.
Even more curiously, the same lead actor Shahid Kapoor was seen snorting cocaine, screaming expletives and even urinating on the audience at a rock concert in Udta Punjab. “The difference was, the team behind Udta Punjab was willing to put up a fight. They went all the way to the courts to stop their film from being violated. The makers of Kabir Singh didn’t even put up a fight. They quietly accepted all the beeps and mutes, although the language only reflects the mindset of the protagonist. Also, an ‘A’ certificate clearly means the content is for an adult audience. Are the adult viewers of our country not mature enough to withstand the shock of hearing some taboo words?” asks a source close to the film.
