Exclusive: CBFC’s Shocking Sexism & ‘Tutiyapa’ Over ‘Bandookbaaz’

‘Babumoshai Bandookbaaz’ gets an ‘A’ certificate and 48 cuts, but CBFC’s logic behind these is even more shocking.

The Nawazuddin Siddiqui starrer Babumoshai Bandookbaaz is the CBFC’s latest victim. The film is based on the life of a contract killer played by Nawaz. While it was clear from the trailer itself that the film would get an ‘A’ certificate, but what came as a shock were the 48 cuts that followed, thanks to Mr Nihalani.

We got in touch with Kushan Nandy, the director of the film, for an exclusive chat about his experience of presenting Babumoshai Bandookbaaz to Pahlaj Nihalani and all that followed.

Kushan Nandy: It’s been a nightmare. Let me start from the beginning. First you need to sit in front of five people, the name of who you will not know. What they do is... they rip apart your film. There is a line (in the film) which says ‘ma ka lehenga’. They actually suggested ‘why you don’t change it to ma ka aanchal?’ They are all wannabe writers and directors who want to sit over there and tell us what to do.

My producer Kiran Shroff, who is a lady, was accompanying me. So they asked her ‘why as a woman, have you made a film with so many abuses and love making scenes?’ A lady on the panel asked her this. Before Kiran could answer, another panelist (a man) said ‘she’s wearing a shirt and a jeans, so she’s obviously not a lady.’ They all had a laugh about it. 

Basically, it’s a circus. And throughout this entire exercise we are told that we can argue to defend our film. But the moment you open your mouth they say “Oh! So you are not agreeing to it? So you have to go to the revising committee.”

Kushan says he had no option but to meet CBFC chief Pahlaj Nahilani in person. After waiting for two hours having submitted his mobile phone outside his office, was he finally allowed to meet the censor man. Nandy recalls that the first thing Nihalani told him shocked him the most.

Kushan Nandy: The first thing he said was “You are lucky that I didn’t ban your film.” So I said, “Sir, but on what basis would you ban my film?” Nihalani replied, “Look at the abuses, I would never pass these.” If you see the trailer there is a line that says, “Jisko sehla sehla ke khada kiya tha ussi ki marne ke liye woh apne he pichwade mein ghus jayega, ye kabhi socha nahi hoga”. He has a problem with the word ‘khada’. Nihalani said “Mera ek gana tha, Khada hai khada hai. I am still abused on Twitter for that”. But what does that have to do with my film? It’s his song! He had made a song called ‘khada hai’ which obviously got passed, people have seen it a hundred times over and today I am making a film in which the context of ‘khada’ is completely different from what it was in the song. And even if it’s the same, how are the two related? It’s just bizarre.

Then Nihalani says, ‘why don’t you change the word chut*ya to tutiya?’ First of all, if you change the word chut*ya to tutiya, every Tom, Dick and Harry would still understand what it means in any case. I argued with him that when we say ‘yeh kya chut*yapa kar rahe ho’, it means why are you behaving foolishly. It’s not an abuse. That’s the way people talk in Uttar Pradesh, in that society. I mean he won’t be saying aadab before starting a conversation. It’s a very dictatorial atmosphere when you land up over there.

Despite the discussion and debate, Babumoshai Bandookbaaz gets an adult certificate and 48 cuts.

Most of the cuts are related to the word chut*ya. Then, a few of them are love making scenes, cut down by some percentage. I mean how does it matter if it’s cut down by 80%, 30% or 20%? A love making scene is a love making scene. Secondly it’s not in my film for titillating people. One more thing is that mine is an adult film anyway.

Kushan Nandy, Filmmaker

So the question now is, has director Kushan Nandy agreed to all the cuts prescribed by the CBFC?

Kushan Nandy: I am going to the tribunal. We have a hearing on August 3. I am going to fight this. I am not going to take this. I am happy with an adult film, so why are you giving me cuts? You are basically trying to say that an adult person cannot go and see the film. Nihalani says ‘no, we are not trying to say that. What we are trying to say is that children can sneak into the theatre and watch the film.’ But that’s not my problem! Children sneaking their way into an adult film should be dealt with by the law of the land. What can I do about that? So these ridiculous arguments are happening over there.

They are a bunch of jokers basically. Mr Nihalani is the biggest one of them all. Ok, so saala is allowed but saali is not allowed. Saala is also one of the 48 cuts. Nihalani says, ‘This saala I am allowing, but saali toh main kabhi allow nahin karunga.’ This is because it is derogatory to women. I am not generally derogatory to women. If a man is speaking to a woman in a situation, that’s a part of my story. So I had an argument with him and then I figured that it’s a one way conversation. He has a fixed way of thinking.

He is destroying my right to make a film. He is destroying any kind of creative expression. I mean I am not going to write a film in the fear that somebody is going to sit and butcher it and turn it into something else. I refuse to bow down to this. I know my release is coming, but I have still gone to the tribunal, and I am going to fight this.

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