Pahlaj Nihalani

The 2015 James Bond film, Spectre, had run into a major controversy after the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) played spoilsport or should we say, nanny. The then chairperson of the CBFC, Pahlaj Nihalani, reduced the kissing scene of the film to around 22 seconds. It got a lot of backlash from the fans as their favourite character was transformed from being sexy to being Sanskaari. #SanskaariJamesBond and #SanskaariCensorBoard trended for days and are two of the most memorable hashtags on social media in recent times.Now as the next James Bond film, No Time To Die, is about to release, there were fears that once again, Agent 007 will have to go the Sanskaari way. But in a pleasant turn of events, the CBFC this time has left the kissing scenes untouched.A source told us, No Time To Die has been passed with zero cuts. The film has some violence and also a few intimate scenes. But the CBFC this time did not ask for any reckless cuts. The studio was very happy that the CBFC examining committee understood the context of those scenes and didnt make any unfair demands, unlike last time.No Time To Die was given the certificate on September 20 and has been passed with a U/A rating. The source said, The films run time is 163 minutes, that is, 2 hours, 43 minutes. This makes No Time To Die the longest James Bond film ever. But if the film has enough entertainment and thrill, viewers wont mind. The advance is encouraging and the film is set for a great opening.A few days back, Bollywood Hungama was the first to break the news that No Time To Die would be the first Bond film to be released in 3D. Starring Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, L a Seydoux and Ana de Armas, it is also set to have a huge release in India as the total screen count is more than 1700.

Updated: May 8, 2021 - 10:33 AM IST The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) had always been seen as a spoilsport. Many viewers have cried foul since years over CBFCs idea of chopping off objectionable scenes and thereby compromising on the freedom of expression of the makers. This perception of CBFC got a boost under the chairmanship of Pahlaj Nihalani. Though he vacated the post in 2017, the perception remains.However, over the last one year, very few films have released and thankfully, the CBFC was not reported to have axed scenes or dialogues in most of them. In case of the much awaited Eid release, Radhe - Your Most Wanted Bhai, the CBFC, too, had passed it without a cut. However, the makers voluntarily made some cuts and modifications after securing the censor certificate. Believe it or not, as many as 21 modifications have been carried out.A source reveals, Lead actor Salman Khan and the makers felt that the film is a family entertainer. Although its coming on digital as well, many are going to watch it with their families in their homes. So they probably must have thought that its better to remove a few shots which might make the target audience uncomfortable. So, a few shots of young boys consuming drugs have been removed. Theres a quick, one-second shot of a boy suffering from over consumption of drugs. Even this blink-and-miss shot was chopped off. Then, action shots at four places were deleted, possibly as it was a bit violent.The makers also made an addition. A five second city-wide shot was added towards the end of the film.Interestingly, according to one of the modifications in the cut list, Swacchh Mumbai has been replaced by Swacchh Bharat. Also, a Jai Maharashtra dialogue was also removed in the same dialogue. To which the source says, Lets not see these things out of context and try to create controversy. I am sure therell be a reason why the makers made these modifications and well get the answer when we see the film on May 13.Before these modifications, the duration of Radhe - Your Most Wanted Bhai was 117 minutes and 55 seconds. After these cuts were implemented, the final run time now stands at 114 minutes and 24 seconds. In other words, 3 minutes 31 seconds of shots have been removed by the makers.