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CBFC turns prudish with the Shahid Kapoor starrer Kabir Singh; beeps cuss words in spite of A certificate

21 Jun 2019

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 uttered by Shahid Kapoor in Kabir Singh.This dazzling demonstration of prudishness in spite of the fact that Kabir Singh has been stamped with an Adults Only certificate! Curiously, the same level of un-parliamentary language was permissible in the blockbuster Arjun Reddy , the original Telugu version of Kabir Singh.And both the Telugu and Hindi versions of the film are directed by the same director Sandeep Vanga. 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 put up a fight. They went all the way to the courts to stop their film from being violated. 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 Kabir Singh.A more important question to be asked is, are the sanskaari days back at the CBFC? I reached out to the CBFC chairperson and CEO. But got no answer.