IAF denies any role in censoring <I>Rang De Basanti</I> : Bollywood News : ApunKaChoice.Com


ApunKaChoice.Com	IndiaExpress.Com CricketZone.Com
Set as Homepage \| Add to favorites

RSS

HOME | SCOOP!! & NEWS | BOLLYWOOD

Aamir Khan

IAF denies any role in censoring Rang De Basanti
17th Jan 2006 09.05 IST
By Agencies

The Indian Air Force on Monday said it has no role in censoring certain parts of Aamir Khan starrer Rang De Basanti as the film's producer and director clarified the cuts requested by the Animal Welfare Board were more to do with the "procedural matters" than the issue of cruelty to animals.

"It is not (not) our job to censor any film," Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal S P Tyagi told media persons on Monday at the headquarters of South Western Air Command (SWAC) at Gandhinagar.

"We were taken to the screening of the movie and were asked to air our views. We just told them our opinion," he said. "Censorship is not our job," Tyagi added.

He said the IAF authorities were in no way concerned regarding the contents of the film.

The film revolves around five friends, one whom happens to be a fighter pilot, whose MiG-21 crashes.

On January 10, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee along with the top brass of Armed Forces had watched the film and had suggested some changes before it was released.

"The media has made an issue out of a non issue. The simple fact is that neither the Censor Board nor the Ministry of Defence have requested any cuts in the movie.

The Animal Welfare board has given a recommendation that a shot involving a banned horse race be removed from the final version. The shot in question is not more than 20 seconds," producer of the film Ronnie Screwala of UTV told reporters in Mumbai.

The Animal Welfare Board had on January 12 withdrawn the mandatory permission for the film's screening saying it was shot prior to obtaining the order for using animals in the movie.

"The shot in question is a traditional festival of the Nihans, a sect of Sikhism, which features a horse race that has been banned, as we were informed by the AWB. Therefore they have asked us to remove that shot from the movie. It is more a question of procedure, wherein we had to pre apply before shooting the scene which we had not done," Screwala said.

Director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra said, "It is in the media's mind that the Ministry of Defence had any problems with the movie. Both the ministry and the Censor Board passed the movie without any cuts.

The film will now be released on January 26 instead of January 20, but Mehra clarified that neither he nor UTV had received any objection from the Defence Ministry.

"We were told by the Censor Board to refer the film to the MoD and the AWB, which we have done. While the MoD passed it without any cuts the AWB has recommended one cut. This is normal procedure," he added.

Related
Aamir Khan
Rang De Basanti
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra