“Intercourse” Not Right For Shah Rukh But Okay For Dhananjay!

Film Refused Clearance In Kolkata  Gets Passed In Mumbai After Severe Cuts 

So okay.  Anushka Sharma  couldn’t finally say the “I” word to ShahRukh Khan in Jab Harry Met  Sejal.

But  the “I” word, we  mean “intercourse” has been allowed by the Central  Board Of Film Certification (CBFC) in the new controversial Bengali film Dhananjay  about the  highly  controversial hanging of  rape-and-murder convict  Dhananjoy Chatterjee in Kolkata. Dhananjoy claimed innocence for  14 years and was finally hanged on 15 August 2004 leaving behind many unanswered questions about his guilt.

The  film directed by Arindam Sil was refused censor certification in Kolkata. With the  release date just days away the panicky producers and director approached Pahlaj Nihalani  in Mumbai.

After an emergency-viewing of the film on Thursday morning the makers walked away with an “A” certificate and substantial cuts including a  brutal rape sequence  which has  been ordered cut by 80 percent , and a sequence showing  Dhananjay’s police torture which  has been ordered cut by 50 percent.

The producers have also been asked to submit an NOC from th​e​ Animal Welfare Board Of India

In  addition several harsh expletives casting aspersions on mothers and sisters in Bengali and Hindi have been ordered out.

Most crucially the film which everyone  knows chronicles  a well-known real-life crime has been asked to change its original pre-credits claim of being based on real facts , to a disclaimer saying it’s a work of fiction.

While the irony of scrupulously  making a real-life film based on actual incidents and then having is turned into fiction to avoid friction is  not lost , the makers of Dhananjay have expressed relief and happiness on Twitter for getting passed the censor board specially with all the references to the sex act including  the lately-axed word “intercourse” intact.

Says a source  from the CBFC, “There is  a difference between the way “intercourse” was used in Imtiaz Ali’s film and in Dhananjay. Here words like “sex” ,“intercourse” and “semen” are part of the legal jargon that is used in the court case. We can’t touch what the law has to say. We’ve allowed all the graphic sexual references  in the court scenes.”

That’s quite a victory for a film in Bengali.