Is Anurag Kashyap Upset With Producers for Deleted Scenes in Manmarziyaan? See His Cryptic Post

Director Anurag Kashyap, who is known for his brushes with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) over his films, has indirectly taken a dig at production house of his latest directorial Manmarziyaan, Eros, for deleting three scenes from the film.

Kishore Lulla’s Eros International reportedly approached the CBFC regarding the deletion of the said scenes after members of the Sikh community objected to them.

According to a censor copy, the three deleted scenes include a 29-second smoking sequence of Abhishek Bachchan, a minute long scene featuring Taapsee Pannu and Abhishek entering a gurudwara and an 11-second scene where Taapsee is shown smoking.

"We have removed the three scenes from the film as people's sentiments were getting hurt. The said changes have come into effect in metros from today and will reflect across India from the coming Thursday-Friday," a source from the production confirmed the same to PTI.

On Thursday, Kashyap, in a response to a tweet of a social media user who thanked CBFC and the filmmaker for deleting the particular scenes, took a sly dig at Eros and his managing head Kishore Lulla by writing, “Next time you are threatened by a film please call him directly.”

“Congratulations . Here by all problems of Punjab are solved and Sikh youth have been saved. Happy to be back in La La land again. Next time you are threatened by a film please call Kishore Lulla directly on +91 98679 *****. Eros knows how to solve matters in minutes,” Kashyap tweeted.

Screengrab of Anurag Kashyap's original tweet, which has now been taken down by Twitter support team as it had Lulla's phone number.

Clearly, Kashyap is unhappy with Eros’ decision of deleting the scenes from the film.

The director, however, addressed the controversy on Tuesday, saying there was never an intention to cause any hurt to the Sikh community but the matter should not be politicised unnecessarily.

He said utmost care was taken while shooting the scenes and they took guidance from the community to avoid misrepresentation.

"When we shot the smoking scene, it was shot on the street and there were close to 150 people watching the shoot. We asked before doing the scene and were told that he has to take the Turban off before he smokes away from his house. We were also shown how Robbie (Abhishek) should take the turban off with both hands and how he should hand it over and how the cousin should take it,” said Kashyap.

"It was never the intention to hurt the community and why would we do that when we got so much love from them." he added.

A petition was filed in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Tuesday by the Supreme Sikh Organisation objecting to a scene in the film where Abhishek’s Robbie is smoking a cigarette after taking off his turban.

The complaint was filed in the court against the screening of the film. It raised an objection stating that Robbie “solemnises his marriage rituals in a gurudwara and then goes out. He removes his turban and smokes a cigarette.”

As per the petitioner, it hurts the sentiments of the Sikh religion and gives a wrong message to the society.