Subhash K Jha (DNA; August 8, 2015)

Moving away from the guideline, Pahlaj Nihalani, the chief of the censor board, has shown that rules are not being obeyed rigidly and blindly. The soon-to-release pugilistic film Brothers has been allowed the profanity ‘bastard’ not once but twice. According to a reliable source, “The cussword ‘bastard’ featured five times in the dialogues in Brothers. Initially, the Censor Board members told director Karan Malhotra to delete all five ‘bastards’. But then the director pointed out that the word had a direct and deep relation to the storyline and to Akshay Kumar and Sidharth Malhotra’s relationship with their screen father Jackie Shroff.”

Apparently at this stage, Nihalani intervened. Says a source from Brothers’ unit. “Nihalani had a closed-door meeting with the director where Karan explained why the word was necessary. He finally allowed the forbidden word in two places in the dialogues.” Brothers has now been certified ‘U/A’ with three verbal cuts.