Censors beep sex; embarrassed KJo tweaks his trailer
Sex education might be made mandatory in schools these days, but the Central Board of Film Certification still feels it's is a dirty word. Debutant director Shakun Batra just learnt this, last week, when he had to face the ire of the censor board officials over the trailer for his film Ek Main Aur Ek Tu.
Starring Imran Khan and Kareena Kapoor, the trailer of this Karan Johar and UTV Motion Pictures produced venture was refused an U certificate simply because it had the word 'sex' used in one of the sentences. This ditkat on the trailer implies that it cannot be attached to U and U/A films and it cannot be aired on national television.
Explaining the scene that ran into objection, a source told Mumbai Mirror, "The film has a scene where a person asks Kareena and Imran if they've had sex To this, Kareena replies 'Yes' and Imran says 'No'. The objection was ridiculous. Trailers of many other recent films with objectionable dialogues and scenes have been given the nod."
Needless to say, Karan and Shakun were shocked with the censor board decision. "KJo and Shakun have however, taken it in their stride. They are now reworking on the new version. If this same decision was passed earlier, Karan and Shakun might have decided to 'beep' out the word. However, since beeps are not allowed any longer, they will have to rework a lot of things to get the flow right," revealed the source.
Though the reworking of the trailer means overshooting the budget, neither KJo nor Shakun want to compromise in the publicity of their film. "They want the trailer to get an U certificate and not an A. They want it to get attached to as many films as possible," added the source.
When contacted, Karan Johar confirmed that the trailer had run into trouble because of the word 'sex. "For now, I am attaching the current trailer of Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu to The Dirty Picture, which has been given an A certificate.
I wouldn't like to say much on this. Frankly, it wouldn't be correct for me to say for or against the censor board's decision taken on the trailer of Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu. As a law-abiding filmmaker, I would rather do what I have been told (pauses). I am sure that they would be cooperative when we submit the new version."
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