Nawazuddin Siddiqui is set to appear in Kushan Nandy's Babumoshai Bandookbaaz, but the censor board has become their nightmare. Apart from suggesting 48 cuts, the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) members have harassed the director and the producer of the film.
Director Kushan and producer Kiran Shroff revealed the trauma they went through to Bombay Times. Kushan said that CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani wanted to ban the movie, while Kiran revealed that members of the censor board abused her.
According to Kiran, CBFC members asked her how a woman could make such a film. She said: "a lady officer turned to me and said, 'Aap aurat hokar aisi filmein kaise bana sakti hain'. And before I could speak up, a man in the committee said, 'But she is not a woman. Look at what she is wearing.' I was dumbfounded."
Now, Pahlaj has responded to this above issue and also, reacted to Kushan's allegations of threatening him. Kushan recently told DNA that he met Pahlaj who "threatened" him with more cuts.
"He told me I had two options. I could either go to the Revising Committee where I'd be given even more cuts or I could take my film to the Tribunal," Kushan said.
To this, Pahlaj replied: "Kushan is lying. No untoward incident happened with his producer. If that was the case, why didn't he mention the incident when he met me? Yes, he met me after his film was rejected by our Examining Committee for what he calls a 'private meeting'. He tried to intimidate me and get the cuts in his film restored by using his political connections."
"Since I was brought in as the chairperson, these handful of team members have been working against the CBFC's interests. They want to project themselves as the liberal forces, never mind if they end up flouting CBFC guidelines and rules," Pahlaj added.
