Producer Shailendra Babu and director Sadhu Kokila of Bhale Jodi, a remake of the Telugu hit Ala Modalaindi are upset that the regional Censor Board that issued a ‘U’ certificate, but objected to some scenes in the film. However, the producer is in no mood to axe the said scene and is now going to the revising committee.
Miffed with the Censor Board, producer Shailendra Babu stated, “The Censor Board watched our film Bhale Jodi on Monday, which I can vouch is a clean love story. But the Censor Board officer, Nagendra Swamy, asked us to make a couple of cuts and when we asked him for a reason, he didn’t have one. There is a small scene in the film, where the hero is dressed as a eunuch for a few seconds, which connects to the second half of my film and a word ‘ghoomodu’. The Censor Officer has asked me to cut that particular scene and the word, which he finds objectionable. Haven’t there been scenes or films on eunuchs shown to date? The recent Nanu Avanalla Avalu is the best example. More so, this is a remake. When the Censor Board in Telugu did not have any objections, I don’t understand what the problem here is,” he said.
The producer, who has been in the industry for the last 28 years, finds it hard to believe that the censor official could find harmless scenes like the one mentioned above objectionable. He says, “We are not supposed to question him as he threatens us by saying that he is a government officer. They don’t understand the plight of the producers who invest money. We definitely need a solution.”
Not willing to make the suggested cuts,the producer has approached the revising committe.”I have to wait for a call from them. I had applied for a censor certificate 25 days ago and the board could watch it only now. I wanted to release the film on October 22, which will get further delayed because of the censor officer’s decision,” he says.
Censor’s take
Says Nagendra Swamy, “The producer spoke very rashly after we gave him a U certificate and asked him to make one visual cut, where the hero is dressed like a eunuch, which we felt was demeaning to their community. “
He adds, “He is not ready to comply with this. We were following the Censor Board guidelines and they are not ready to follow the rules, instead he is hitting back at us. It is nothing but cheap publicity. He is comparing the scene to the National Award film Naanu Avanalla Avalu, which is foolishness. I have told him that if he is not satisfied, he is free to go to the revising committee or the tribunal. “