A Gentleman: Still from the movie (courtesy S1dharthM )
Highlights
- 'The lead pair's kiss just went on and on,' said the source
- Two of Daniel Craig's kissing scenes were chopped by half in SPECTRE
- 'We've asked them to take it easy,' the source added
Just when we thought the Censor Board's
sanskari regime was over with the ousting of Pahlaj Nihalani from the Central Board of Film Certification, there comes this. A reportedly prolonged kissing scene featuring Sidharth Malhotra and Jacqueline Fernandez in
A Gentleman has been asked to be shortened by almost 70 per cent, states a report in
DNA. The CBFC's latest snipping suggestion can be seen as the former Censor Board's chief's last conservative move as the CBFC headliner -
Mr Nilahani was replaced as the CBFC chief by adman and lyricist Prasoon Joshi last week.
A Gentleman casts Jacqueline opposite Sidharth (
plays dual roles) and is a joint direction of Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK.
If you remember, the
last James Bond movie SPECTRE faced the brunt of the censor board when two of Daniel Craig's kissing scenes were chopped by half. Now, the board says Sidharth can also not kiss like the British spy, for
sanskari reasons of course, and especially in a film titled
A Gentleman (!?!!). "The lead pair's kiss just went on and on unnecessarily, just like the smooch in the James Bond film and Ranbir Kapoor-Anushka Sharma in
Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. We've asked them to take it easy. The film is titled A Gentleman, but the hero seems to forget his manners while kissing,"
DNA quoted a source as revealing.
The trending kissing sequence in
A Gentleman is also referred to as the longest in the history of Bollywood, reported
DNA. Well, it is not anymore - following the cuts, the movie has been certified as U/A. And oh, that's not it, the makers were also asked to edit out a few swear words, the
DNA report added.
The censor board continues to contribute to its reputation of being conservative even
after Aamir Khan's polite reminder to restrict its duties to certification. "As far as my knowledge goes, the CBFC in any case isn't supposed to censor, it is supposed to grade the film and certify
ki kiss age group ko hum ye dikha sakte hain. So, I guess that's how we should proceed. That's what also Mr Shyam Benegal's recommendations are if I am not mistaken. So hopefully things will get better soon," Aamir said earlier this month.
Meanwhile,
Babumoshai Bandookbaaz is currently battling 48 cuts suggested by the CBFC, Madhur Bhandarkar was told to remove references to RSS, Akali and even singer Kishore Kumar from his Emergency-themed
Indu Sarkar and
Lipstick Under My Burkha triumphed after being dismissed as "lady oriented". Previously, films like drug drama
Udta Punjab and crime thriller
NH10 suffered the blows of the censor board.
A Gentleman arrives in theatres on August 25.