Even one cut by Censors amounts to murder of film: Anurag Kashyap

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap says even the slightest of alteration by the Censor Board for any film is no less than killing the creativity of the movie.

Kashyap’s troubles with the censor are well-known. The “Bombay Velvet” director has often been at loggerheads with the censor board right from his unreleased directorial debut film “Paanch” to “Black Friday” and “Ugly”.

Recently, there have been reports that his upcoming co-production “Udta Punjab”, which is based on the issue of substance abuse in Punjab, has failed to get censor board’s approval due to expletives and drug use.

Kashyap, however, had said the film has gone to the revising committee of the board like any other movie.

When asked if a film’s creativity is hampered when it is chopped at the censor board, the director told reporters, “When a filmmaker is ready with his film, he sends it to CBFC and according to him that is the film he wants. So even if it is altered a little bit it is Qatl-e-Aam of it.

“I don’t think any filmmaker makes a film and then says ‘cut and leave whatever you want’,” he added.

The filmmaker was speaking at the launch of “Qatl-e-Aam” song for his latest directorial “Raman Raghav 2.0” last evening.

The thriller stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui as a serial killer while Vicky Kaushal will play the role of a cop.

The “Dev D” helmer had previously said that he would not be satisfied “even with a single” cut for “Raman Raghav 2.0”.

When quizzed about the status of the film with regards to the censors, the director said, “The film will be shown as it is, intact. It has been cleared.”

“Raman Raghav 2.0” was showcased at Cannes’ Directors Fortnight section last month. The film is scheduled to release on June 24.