Kabir Khan reveals he fought with CBFC to keep ‘Jai Shri Ram’ scene in Salman Khan's Bajrangi Bhaijaan: 'They said that Muslims won’t...'

Salman Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Kareena Kapoor and Harshali Malhotra starrer Bajrangi Bhaijaan is considered one of the best Bollywood films in recent times. In a recent interview, the director of the film Kabir Khan revealed that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) asked him to remove a scene featuring Om Puri’s character (who portrays a maulvi) saying “Jai Shri Ram", but he stood firm and kept it in the movie.

As per Kabir, CBFC suggested removing the line because they feared that it might upset Muslim viewers. “I asked why and they said that Muslims won’t like it," he recalled. “I said ‘Sir, what’s my name? I don’t mind it at all," said Kabir while speaking at the eighth edition of The Indian Express’ Expresso.

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He believes that audiences are more open-minded than some of the “gatekeepers" as they anticipate the backlash before it even happens. If the film still gets love, then it means that somewhere it hit home," he said adding, “I feel it’s the gatekeepers who sometimes draw these limits."

“I have grown up in a Delhi where ‘Jai Shri Ram’ was not a political salutation. It was used by everybody and I have been in Old Delhi where ‘Jai Shri Ram’ was like saying ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’," the filmmaker said.

The director pushed back against the board’s concerns and made sure the scene remains in the film the way it is written and shot. “I fought for it. I stuck to it," quoted Kabir Khan.

Recalling a screening, which he attended on Eid’s opening day, where the cinema hall was packed with “blue collar Muslim workers" and how they enjoyed the moments on the screen, Kabir shared, “I get gooseflesh thinking of it now… the censors thought they will not like it. People loved that, people loved whatever we were showing in that film, the politics behind it."