CBFC Directs Sitaare Zameen Par Makers to Include Quote by Modi Mentioning the Year 2047: Report
The Wire Staff
New Delhi: The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has directed the makers of the Aamir Khan-starrer movie Sitaare Zameen Par to include a quote by Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioning the year 2047 in the opening disclaimer.
The suggestion to include Modi’s quote is part of the five changes/suggestions to the film which the CBFC has directed the makers to incorporate, reported Hindustan Times.
The film was subsequently issued a U/A certification on June 17, which confirms that the modifications were done, with the Prime Minister’s quote inserted after the film’s opening disclaimer, which has also been changed as per the CBFC’s directions.
The newspaper reported that it was not immediately clear what the quote is about.
The movie, which is set to release on June 20, stars Aamir Khan and Genelia Deshmukh, and tells the story of a basketball coach who teaches the sport to a team of intellectually disabled people as community service after the directions of a court.
The other changes in the movie directed by CBFC were the replacement of the term “business woman” with “business person”; a 30-second disclaimer at the beginning of the film be replaced with a 26-second voice-over; a visual containing the word “kamal” (lotus) be removed, along with its appearance in subtitles; and “Michael Jackson” be replaced with “Lovebirds” in the subtitles.
In recent years, the CBFC has increasingly been suggesting cuts and modifications in movie scenes.
In April this year, the CBFC had asked the makers of the film Phule to remove several caste-based terms, after objection from Brahmin outfits, resulting in the postponing of its release.
The directive of CBFC included removing terms such as “Mahar”, “Mang”, “Peshvai”, and “Manu’s system of caste”, with the censor board terming them as “sensitive.”
Ananth Mahadevan, the director of Phule had told The Wire that he didn’t agree with the modifications suggested by the CBFC.
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