Anurag Kashyap: Even One Cut by Censor Board Amounts to Murder of Film

Mumbai: Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap says even the slightest of alteration by the Censor Board for any film is no less than killing the creativity of the movie. Mr Kashyap's troubles with the censor are well-known.

The Bombay Velvet director has often been at loggerheads with the censor board right from his unreleased directorial debut film Paanch to Black Friday and Ugly.

Recently, there have been reports that upcoming Udta Punjab, which Mr Kashyap's Phantom Films has co-produced with Ekta Kapoor's Balaji Motion Pictures, has failed to get censor board's approval due to expletives and drug use.

Udta Punjab is based on the issue of substance abuse in Punjab.

Mr Kashyap, however, had said the film has gone to the revising committee of the board like any other movie.

When asked if a film's creativity is hampered when it is chopped at the censor board, the director told reporters, "When a filmmaker is ready with his film, he sends it to CBFC and according to him that is the film he wants. So even if it is altered a little bit it is Qatl-e-Aam of it. I don't think any filmmaker makes a film and then says 'cut and leave whatever you want'," he said.

The filmmaker was speaking at an event to launch the song Qatl-e-Aam from his latest film Raman Raghav 2.0, in which he has directed actors Vicky Kaushal and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Nawazuddin plays a serial killer while Vicky will play the role of a cop.

The Dev D director had previously said that he would not be satisfied "even with a single" cut for Raman Raghav 2.0.

When asked about the status of the film with regards to the censors, the director said, "The film will be shown as it is, intact. It has been cleared."

Raman Raghav 2.0 was showcased at the Cannes Film Festival in the Directors Fortnight section last month. The film is scheduled to release on June 24.