‘Rangoon’ in trouble once again, CBFC plans to pull up makers for breaking the law

Vishal Bhardwaj’s latest release ‘Rangoon‘ has called for trouble once again! Ever since the a case was filed against the makers for allegedly copying Fearless Nadia’s character in the film, ‘Rangoon’ has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Now, it has apparently run into trouble with the CBFC.

Reports state that ‘Rangoon’ that stars Shahid Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut and Saif Ali Khan, is running in theatres without the censor certificate and the anti-smoking statutory warning. This has been brought to CBFC’s notice and now the authorities are planning to pull the makers.

Pahlaj Nihalani has spoken about the issue. He stated, “It has been brought to our notice that ‘Rangoon’ has been playing in theatres across the country and outside India without the censor certificate and without the anti-smoking short films, which are compulsory for all films that show actors smoking and/or drinking. ‘Rangoon’ had many scenes showing the main leads indulging in serious substance abuse. We asked the makers to put a disclaimer ahead of the opening credits. That disclaimer has gone missing. Now, we have been informed that the anti-smoking films do not play at the beginning and after the intermission. And also that the censor certificate is not flashed at the start, as per law. These are serious offences.”

“We are taking legal action against the digital operators, to begin with. We would not like to point fingers at anyone else for the lapse at this time. It is the digital operators’ responsibility to play exactly the length that is shown to us and certified by the CBFC. Not a second more or less of footage must be shown in theatres than what we have certified. The exact length of the film that is shown to us and certified by us is mentioned in the censor certificate. If the anti-smoking films have been removed from the beginning and after intermission and if the censor certificate is not being shown in Rangoon, then, the digital operators are screening less footage than what has been approved by the CBFC. It is a serious offence. We are investigating to see how deep the offence goes,” he says further.

This is not the first time that Vishal Bhardwaj has fallen into such a trouble. Even during ‘Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola’, he had removed the statutory anti-smoking warnings and replaced it with songs.

Further taunting the filmmaker, Pahlaj Nihalani claims, “Maybe some self-appointed intellectuals of our film industry feel it is okay to break the law as long as they can ridicule the jurisdiction of the CBFC.” (Also Read: Did Shahid Kapoor’s reply to a fan indicate that he felt sh**ty about failure of ‘Rangoon’?)

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.