Subhash K Jha (DNA; February 25, 2015)

Dum Laga Ke Haisha, the latest offering from Yash Raj Films, has been ordered three audio cuts by the Censor Board before being granted a ‘U’ certificate.

The word ‘ghanta’ has been changed to ‘thenga’. ‘Haraamipana’ is changed to ‘chichorapana’ and ‘haraamkhor’ has been replaced by ‘kathor’.

The film’s debutant director Sharat Katariya is none too pleased. Condemning the decision to mute what he considers appropriate language for his characters, he says, “The gaalis in our film reflected the attitude of the characters which we’ve now achieved with substitute words. In principle, I’m not in favour of a censor body deciding what content should be seen by the audience. It should be up to the audience to decide.”

Sharat, however, doesn’t think expletives embody eloquence. He says, “For me, the attitude and truth of the character is more important than the words they speak. So I don’t think we lost any of our relevance by the three verbal cuts.”