Manoj Bajpayee's Saat Uchakkey gets Censor Board clearance after three-year wait

After a three-year-long battle with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), Manoj Bajpayee’s Saat Uchakkey has finally received the green signal from it. [caption id=“attachment_3020456” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A still from the ‘Saat Uchakkey’ trailer[/caption] While there were reports that the film was stuck at the Censor Board for a long time owing to the excessive use of expletives, Bajpayee said things were not made “difficult” for them, but the fact is that the makers decided to take their time. Speaking at the trailer launch of the upcoming film he said, “Luckily, with this kind of a film, where we wanted the language according to the characters, place and situations, if we look at it from that way, for us it was a cakewalk. We never had to face that problem.” “The tribunal had left the decision to us so our responsibility increased that we don’t disappoint or dissatisfy tribunal. That took time. To say that things were made difficult for us, nothing like that happened. It was a journey that took time only because of us, because of our own directors creative call.” However a SpotBoyE report had earlier suggested that the Neeraj Pandey-produced film was rejected by the Board’s Examining Committee due to its objectionable content. The Satya actor says in order to stop the constant tussle between Censor Board and filmmakers, Shyam Benegal’s recommendations regarding film certification should be implemented as soon as possible. Acclaimed filmmaker Benegal had reccomened that there should be two categories of U/A, one plus 12 years of age and one plus 15 years of age and two categories of adult — one normal adult and another adult with caution. “I really hope Shyam Benegal’s recommendation is implemented as soon as possible. The conflict between filmmakers and the Censor Board, which has been going since years, will continue unless we modernise the recommendations, regulations and guidelines,” he told reporters here. “As long as that doesn’t happen, filmmakers and Censor Board’s conflict will go on,” he added. The film has been directed by Sanjeev Sharma and also stars Kay Kay Menon, Vijay Raaz, Aditi Sharma and actor Ayushmann Khuranna’s brother Aparshakti, in his Bollywood debut. The makers said that the tribunal was supportive and certain dialogues have been “modified or tweaked”, but there are no cuts or beeps in the movie. “Irrespective of who comes and goes, censor board follows its guidelines. The person (in-charge) is not important, hence I never spoke about it. My problem has always been, whether Censor Board should certify or classify us. We need to focus on this,” the 47-year-old actor said. In the last year many films like Veerappan, Aligarh, Spectre, NH10 and _Udta Punja_b have faced issues with the CBFC for various reasons. Saat Uchakkey is slated to hit theatres on 14 October. Watch the trailer here:

With inputs from PTI