Ace filmmaker Prakash Jha waged a war against the Censor Board Of Film Certification (CBFC), when the Revising Committee, headed by CBFC Chairperson Pahlaj Nihalani, asked him to make 11 cuts, for a UA certificate, in his upcoming film Jai Gangaajal and the filmmaker has finally come out with flying colours.
The cop-drama got a clearance from the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT), which suggested only two minor changes – first to change a word in a dialogue and the second, to reduce the length of a scene by a few seconds. The Revising Committee had asked Prakash Jha to make 11 cuts in his cop-drama for a UA certificate, which if applied across the film would have added up to 70-odd cuts and would have changed its very texture. Pahlaj Nihlani had also threatened to give the Priyanka Chopra starrer an ‘A’ certificate, if ‘necessary’ changes were not made.
An elated Jha said, “There are just two changes now but they are very minor. Pahlaj Nihalani had asked for 11 cuts. Now, we have been allowed everything including the language. There are no objections.”
“The tribunal appreciated the film and called it a very powerful movie. They said they don’t want to disrupt it,” he revealed.
The National Award-winning filmmaker had first gone to the examining committee but the members there had a difference of opinion. He then approached the revising committee, which was presided by Nihalani.
“I felt so humiliated at the revising committee where he himself was the chairperson. And I had to tell him to stop shouting. His behaviour is bad and so is his thinking. The way he treats producers is humiliating,” Jha further added.
“The Censor Board is not a menace, it is all Pahlaj Nihalani’s personal agenda. He does not understand. His own manipulations and methods are questionable. I hope he gets the signal that these things will not be tolerated,” he concluded.
Written and directed by Prakash Jha, produced by Prakash Jha Productions and Play Entertainment and co-produced by Milind Dabke, Jai Gangaajal revisits the dusty heartland of Central India and examines the society–police relationship. Starring Priyanka Chopra, the movie is all set to release on 4th March, 2016. Jai Gangaajal is not a prequel or a sequel to Ajay Devgn starrer Gangaajal but is a fresh story.
