EXCLUSIVE: CBFC censors 7.12 minutes of footage in Singham Again; Simmba’s flirting dialogue deleted; visuals depicting connection with Ramayan ‘suitably’ modified
A few days are left for the epic Diwali clash and the excitement is tremendous. A few days ago, we reported about the censor cuts of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 and now we bring to you the exclusive censor report of the other big release this Friday, Singham Again, starring Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Deepika Padukone, Akshay Kumar, Ranveer Singh, Arjun Kapoor, Tiger Shroff and Jackie Shroff.
The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has granted a U/A certificate to Singham Again. However, the film had to go through several modifications. At two places, the Examining Committee asked the makers to suitably modify the 23-second-long ‘match cut’ visuals depictions of Lord Rama, Sita Mata and Lord Hanuman with that of Singham, Avni and Simmba respectively. Similarly, a 23-second-long visual of ‘Singham with Shri Ram, touching feet’ was ‘suitably modified’.
The makers were then asked to delete the 16-second visual of Raavan grabbing, pulling and pushing Sita in the drama scene. A 29-second scene of ‘Hanuman burning and dialogue of Simmba flirting’ was deleted.
At 4 places, the dialogue of the character of Zubair were deleted and suitably modified and at other places, the dialogue between Zubair and Simmba were modified. The visuals of the Constitutional head were deleted and his dialogues were suitably modified in 2 places. Presumably in one of these scenes, the visual of Avni was also suitably modified.
A 26-second dialogue and visuals were deleted and suitably modified as it “affected international diplomatic relations of India with neighbouring state”. Then, a scene of the beheading inside the police station was blurred. The colour of the religious flag was suitably modified and in the same sequence, the use of the ‘Shiv Strota’ in the background score was removed. Finally, a dialogue of Zubair, ‘Teri kahaani ka Raavan main hoon, tere chahite ko bhej’, was suitably modified. In the same scene, the colour of the flag was also modified.
Finally, the CBFC asked the makers to redraft the disclaimer stating that “This film is purely a work of fiction…Although the film is inspired by the story of Lord Ram, neither its narrative nor the characters should be viewed as revered deities…The story features contemporary characters of today…or societies, and their cultures, customs, practices, and traditions.” This disclaimer lasts 1 minute and 19 seconds while the total length of the cuts is 7 minutes and 12 seconds.
Once these changes were made, the CBFC passed the film on October 28. The final length of Singham Again is now 144.12 minutes. In other words, it is 2 hours 24 minutes and 12 seconds long. It releases on Friday, November 1.
Also Read: Can Singham Again and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 collectively earn Rs. 1000 crores worldwide gross? Trade experts share their views