Dum Laga Ke Haisha may have opened to rave reviews, but the Central Board of Film Certification wasn’t too happy with some parts of the Ayushmann Khurrana starrer. The film received 5 audio cuts, most of them ‘abuses’ which were replaced with more acceptable words. But what’s interesting and inexplicable is the muting of the word ‘lesbian’ in a scene from the film which was given a U/A certificate.
Director Sharat Katariya tells us that the word ‘lesbian’ was used in the court scene, when Sandhya’s lawyer applies for a divorce on her behalf, “Here Sandhya’s younger school going brother in jest asks his mother, ‘Mummy kahin didi lesbian toh nahi hoti jaa rahi?””. Sharat adds that when he first met the CBFC, they handed him a list of words that can’t go in films. When they objected to the word ‘lesbian’ the director was amused and asked, “You said you are removing gaalis (swear words) but lesbian is not a gaali, why are you removing it? So they said the fact that a little kid mouths it, it is not appropriate. And they didn’t find it (the context the word was being used) humourous. But otherwise ‘lesbian’ word can be used. I didn’t argue too much as there wasn’t much scope anyways.”
Sharat criticises the Censor’s misplaced enthusiasm in curbing creativity in the name of protecting ‘Indian culture’, he says,“I feel people should be their own Censor Boards instead of someone else telling them what to watch and what not to watch. In any case people watch what they want to online. I think they are also doing their job and they don’t believe in this.”
The controversy surrounding the muting of the word ‘lesbian’ from the film also once again brought out the divided opinions that exist within the CBFC. Filmmaker and member of the CBFC, Ashoke Pandit had condemned the decision with this tweet:
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