In a chat with Follo.in, the Yamaha Fascino Miss Diva-Miss Universe India 2015 girl speaks about her online spat with the actor and life after winning the title
Noyon Jyoti Parasara (BOMBAY TIMES; June 3, 2016)

Asira Tarannum (MID-DAY; May 6, 2014)

Producer-director Ashuu Trikha’s upcoming film, Koyelaanchal, that stars Suniel Shetty and Vinod Khanna, has been facing troubles. Trikha had to get the film’s posters and publicity material re-done as the Association of Motion Pictures and Television Programme Producers (AMPTPP) objected to a line in the posters. It seems that AMPTPP didn’t want the line ‘Sabse bada mafia Bharat sarkaar hai’ to be included in the film’s posters.

Asshu Trikha says, “If AMPTPP does not approve of the publicity material, then the producer can’t apply for a censor certificate. AMPTPP told me that I either remove the line or give it in writing that if someone raises an objection or creates legal trouble, I shall be solely responsible. I had no choice but to make the changes.”

Actor Suniel Shetty, who plays a district collector in the film, says, “It is very sad that objections are being raised even though people haven’t watched the film. Nobody stands up for us and these associations continue to raise objections.” hitlist looks at other films that faced similar issues due to the opposition of organisations other than the censor board.

Title tussles
Phantom, that stars Saif Ali Khan and Katrina Kaif, is supposed to be a cross-country film with the plot spanning India, Lebanon, USA and UK. In the film, Saif plays a character that goes by the name Daniyal Khan and this was also the film’s working title. The makers were apparently told by some religious organisations that the film’s name was insensitive to the minority community. As a result, it was changed to Phantom.

Similarly, Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association (IMMPA) raised objections to Mritunjay Devvrat’s film, The Bastard Child. The director then had to change it to Children of War. “No scene had to be cut, but I had to change the name. I went by their decision, as I wish to complete all formalities and release the film as soon as possible. In India and Bangladesh, it will release as Children of War. The original title will stay the same abroad,” Mritunjay recently said in an interview.

In September 2013, the Akal Takht, the highest temporal body of the Sikhs, objected to a film titled Singh Sahib the Great. The organisation pointed out that using the words ‘ Singh Sahib’ in a film’s film was disrespectful. In the end, makers released the film as Singh Saab the Great.

Another instance is when salon and beauty parlour associations were up in arms against Shah Rukh’s production, then titled Billu Barber. With the association raising objections to the use of the word ‘barber’, SRK’s production house then decided to drop the word ‘ barber’ from the title in its pre- release promotional campaigns.

Scenes under attack
The Tamil Nadu government banned Kamal Haasan’s film, Vishwaroopam, as it feared law and order problems in the light of opposition by a few Muslim groups. Muslim groups said that the film portrayed Muslims as terrorists. Kamal Hassan finally had to delete seven scenes from his film and some scenes were also muted.

In a similar fashion, Ajay Devgn had to remove some scenes from Son of Sardaar as they were deemed offensive by Sikh community leaders. He even screened the film for community leaders from the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee in Amritsar after objections were raised regarding controversial dialogue and imagery in the film’s trailer.

In 2009, Kaminey’s makers faced troubles when Jagannath Sena Sangathan filed an FIR (First Information Report) against them at a police station in Puri. The organisation was upset about the line ‘ Apna Haath Jagannath’ being written on a poster showing a scantily clad woman on the wall of a public toilet. The objectionable portion of the scene was then removed from the prints that were released in Orissa.

DNA (February 24, 2014)

It looks like the under-performance of Anil Sharma’s Singh Saab The Great has had a snowballing affect on Sunny Deol’s career. The first casualty of Deol’s career slump is the directorial duo Vinay Sapru and Radhika Rao’s I Love New Year. After a series of postponed release dates, I Love NY has finally been shelved.

According to a source, “Vinay and Radhika finished shooting the film in 2011. Producer Bhushan Kumar has apparently decided to shelve the film finally. It was initially to be released on February 22, 2013. The date was changed to April 26, 2013 and then further postponed to September 30 the same year. Finally it was decided that the film would be released on December 30, 2013 as the story unfolded over the new-year weekend. That too was postponed.”

Apparently, the producers wanted to wait it out until the box office outcome of Sunny Deol’s last release Singh Saab The Great was clear. Says the source, “When Singh Saab The Great didn’t perform well, Bhushan decided that releasing the film was financially not feasible and shelved the film.”

I Love NY co-director Vinay Sapru says, “Only the producers can answer when and if our film will be released. I guess every film has its destiny, Radhika and I are heartbroken... Three years of our efforts have gone waste. But I guess one has to move on.”

Bhushan Kumar was unavailable for comment.

Mehul S Thakkar (MUMBAI MIRROR; December 3, 2013)

Anil Sharma’s Singh Saab The Great arrived on the same Friday as Punit Malhotra’s Gori Tere Pyaar Mein and fared better than Imran Khan and Kareena Kapoor’s love story.

But Sunny Deol’s love scenes with Urvashi Rautela, who plays his wife in the film, were quietly snipped out by the film’s presenter, Jayantilal Gada of Pen Pvt. Ltd, a day after its release.

Gada reasoned, “The 50-plus Sunny and the 19-year-old Urvashi were a complete mismatch and their scenes together affected the film’s flow. But it was edited by Anil only.”

A day before the film opened, Gada had screened the version minus the love scenes during a preview show for the film fraternity. Anil Sharma had raised an alarm about the missing scenes then and ensured that the film released without any cuts on November 22.

Confirming the incident, Sharma said, “Sometimes people experiment with the editing and try to put out their version. But when I objected, I was told it was a mistake and eventually the film I’d edited went out.”

However, from Saturday the presenters had their way. “Yes, Sunny’s love scenes were edited out from the film from Saturday," says Gada.

When asked if he is aware of what had happened to his film post Friday, Sharma admitted he had “no idea".