Renuka Vyavahare (BOMBAY TIMES; February 8, 2018)

After a prolonged delay, filmmaker Neeraj Pandey’s thriller Aiyaary finally got a clearance from the Censor Board on Tuesday. The film will hit screens on February 16, three weeks after its original release date, January 26. After being revised by the CBFC, a special screening was held for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Saturday, post which certain changes were suggested to the makers. When BT spoke to Neeraj, he explained, “Right when our trailer came out, we had a request from the Ministry of Defence. The CBFC stepped in at that point and said that they would review the film first and then let the MoD give their opinion. If you look at the trailer, you see people in uniforms — officers of different ranks, right from the Chief of Army. The army is very particular about the details, including the uniforms. We had taken great care while shooting, but they were of the opinion that if there was something wrong, they could point it to us and give us time to rectify it. I’d rather have an opinion from them before the release.”

Speaking of the recommended modifications, Neeraj assured that none of the changes will affect his film. “There are no cuts, only modifications. We were asked to change a few dialogues, so we opted to go mute in certain places and change the dialogue in certain others. I don’t think these changes will affect the film. As a writer and storyteller, I like to express myself in a particular way. However, when suggestions are made, you try to understand and see the other person's point of view. The MoD is responsible for one of the most prestigious institutions (Indian Armed Forces) in our country. They understood very well that we are not out there to tarnish their image. We are very particular of the reputation and the responsibilities that go with the institution. The changes that were asked from us were just to avoid any misinterpretation.”

Given the constant scrutiny that filmmakers are subjected to of late, on account of authenticity and misrepresentation, has it curtailed their freedom somewhere, we wonder. The Aiyaary filmmaker replied, “We cannot discard human error, but we have always been responsible. I had no problem with the MoD seeing the film after the CBFC, it’s just that the loss of 10 days shouldn’t have happened. We could have come out on February 9. The writer in me negotiates in a manner that I manage to say things without getting into any sort of controversies. I hate controversies and I have no time for them. Right from my first film, I’ve managed to speak my heart out on issues and I shall continue to do so.”

Giving a lowdown on the cause of delay, Neeraj explained, “We applied for the censor certificate on December 19 last year and we had a censor screening on January 22. We were asked for a few changes on the 23rd by the examining committee. We were willing to submit those modifications the next day itself, expecting the censor certificate on the same date. However, after the examining committee saw the film, they had a request from the MoD to see the film as well. Then the entire exchange of communication between the CBFC, I&B Ministry and MoD started and it obviously took time for them to form the revising committee who would see the film with the MoD officials and reach a consensus. That screening was only possible on Saturday. In spite of it being a weekend, the ministry officials graciously agreed to come along and watch the film. They recommended what they felt to the CBFC, who then conveyed it to us. The actors were out of town at that time, and getting them to do the modifications required coordination, so we ended up losing a few more days. We finally got the censor certificate on Tuesday.”

Dismissing speculation that he didn’t submit the film on time to the CBFC, he clarified, “Who said so? That’s not true. You can check the timeline with the CBFC. The examining committee recommends whatever they feel and you are supposed to submit those changes to the CBFC, but in our case, we were asked to hold on and not submit those changes. We had reworked and were ready to submit the revised one, but we were asked to submit the original copy. The revising committee wanted to see the film that we had first submitted. Tremendous amount of confusion and miscommunication resulted in this delay, which is very unfortunate, but I am thankful to the CBFC and the MoD. We requested them to expedite the process and they worked round the clock to get it done.”

Despite the prolonged delay, the director has no regrets. “Whatever could go wrong has gone wrong. We have been subjected to Murphy’s Law, so I am looking forward to the February 16 release. Every film has a journey and if you understand show business, you will know that the chances of things going wrong are more than things going right. We wanted the film to be out on January 26, but look at what happened. There was a domino effect — Padmaavat went through its own trials and suddenly, they had a window. They came out on 25th and we moved to 9th and now we are in a situation where we are moving to the 16th! You can’t do much about it except for addressing the issue in the most organised way as it depends on a lot of people and you need consensus.”