Censor board trims Alia - Ranveer Kiss

The Central Board of Film Certification is back to its sanskaari ways. The body, often mentioned as censor board for its scissor-happy ways, has trimmed a kissing scene between Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt and come down heavily on any kind of swear work in Gully Boy.

The Zoya Akhtar film about rap culture in India will release this Friday with the cuts. The film has been given UA certification after the cuts and producer Ritesh Sidhwani told Hindustan Times that they have no issues with the certification. "It is absolutely fine, he said.

Also read: Ranveer Singh's Gully Boy gets loudest cheers in 20 years' at Berlinale

The CBFC has asked the Ranveer-Alia kissing scene to be cut down by 13 seconds, besides making it a wide shot instead of a close-up of Ranveer and Alia. Earlier, the CBFCunder the stewardship of Pahlaj Nihalani had faced a lot of criticism for shortening the kissing scene in James Bond film, Spectre.

The CBFC has asked for four changes in the film apart from shortening the kissing scene. Interestingly, the name of liquor brand Royal Stag has been removed from the list of brand partners. This, perhaps, is a first where the name of a brand partner has been removed simply because it is an alcohol brand. Cuss words have also been bleeped or removed from the film.

Recently, Emraan Hashmi's film Cheat India had to be renamed Why Cheat India, thanks to CBFC's recommendations. Last year, Deepika Padukone's Padmaavati was renamed Padmaavat.

Starring Alia and Ranveer in the lead role, Gully Boy is the story of an aspiring rapper named Murad, played by Ranveer, who rises from the slums of Mumbai to make a mark for himself in the world of desi hip hop. Alia plays his fierce girlfriend in the film, which is set to release on February 14.

After the film had the world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival on Saturday, praises showered on the film and Zoya, with several viewers calling it her best work till date