‘Baahubali 2’ gets an ‘A’ certificate in Singapore, but why?

‘Baahubali 2 – The Conclusion’ has turned out to be a tornado at the box office. It has broken all the records of Bollywood films ever made and has registered an historic event in the journey of Hindi Cinema. Well, while audiences all over the world have loved the film, the makers seem to have incurred some trouble with the film getting a smooth release in Singapore. The film has received a NC16 certificate in Singapore. This means that people below 16 years of age can’t watch the film.

Pahlaj Nihalani, has shared some light over this. He was quoted saying, “We granted ‘Baahubali 2 – The Conclusion’ a ‘U/A’ with virtually no cuts. In Singapore, they found ‘Baahubali’ too violent. The war scenes, specially of soldiers being beheaded, were taken to be excessively gruesome by their censor board. In many countries of Asia and Europe more Bollywood films get ‘A’ certificate than we do in India.”

Further stating, “Our mythology and religious scriptures have a lot of violent images of rakshasas being beheaded, etc. So, our children grow up hearing these tales of violence. They are not scared by mythological mayhem. Also, in India censorship is about pacifying sentiments rather than doing the right things. If we cut one shot of a beheading we are branded anti-religious. If we shorten the duration of a kiss we are prudes. And if we delete a shot of boy masturbating another boy (in Moonlight) we are branded homophobic.”

Okay then!

Nikita Thakkar

A strongly opinionated, free-spirited, budding Bollywood journalist, she likes to write anything in her own quirky style. When not running around to get assigned tasks completed, you will find her either painting, indulging in photography or dreaming in the la la land.