KC Bokadia has maintained his place as a director and producer in the Bollywood industry for the last 50 years. However, his latest venture “Teesri Begum” is grabbing headlines as the censor board is concerned about snipping some of its portions. The board has asked him to remove the “Jai Shri Ram” slogan from the movie after he applied for the censor certificate at the end of last year.
According to media reports, the Censor Board’s examination committee reportedly declined to grant it a censor certificate after watching the film because it depicts shocking and regular occurrences that are part of a particular society’s customs. They even claimed that it fosters hatred for a certain community. KC Bokadia was also granted 14 days to present the movie to the revision committee. On 6th March, the Censor Board responded to KC Bokadia referencing the revision committee’s suggestion that the movie, “Teesri Begum”, be released with an adult-only certificate. Furthermore, the director has been instructed to make fourteen edits to the movie.
He stated, “Among these cuts, the biggest objection I have is regarding the point in which it has been said that ‘Jai Shri Ram’ should be removed from the film. Ram is the center of our faith and this is being said by a character in the film. He is taking refuge in the person who attacked him.”
He gave an example of Lord Ram’s statement from the Sundarkand of Ramcharit Manas, in which he states, “Sharanagat kan je tajhin nij hit animation. Te nar panwar paap sam then bloat hani,” when Vibhishan came to find refuge in the Lord. “If an attacker is intent on taking someone’s life and to save his life, that person is reciting the name of Lord Shri Ram. Hardly anyone in India would want to stop him from saying ‘Jai Shri Ram’,” he noted.
He highlighted that the plot of “Tesri Begum” also has an identical character in which he conceals his identity, gets married for the third time and then realizes his mistake. He mentioned, “This scene is related to the film ‘Teesri Begum’ in which a person, who marries for the third time by hiding his identity, admits his mistake after the film and appeals to Lord Shri Ram to save his life. I will die, but will not remove the words ‘Jai Shri Ram’ from my film at any cost.”
He has informed Prasoon Joshi, the chairman of the Censor Board, of his position. He asserted that in the previous forty years, he had created sixty films but was never bothered by the censor board in this manner. He said, “I have made 60 films in the last 40 years, but the Censor Board has never troubled me like this. If my film is not allowed to be released with the words ‘Jai Shri Ram’ then I will go to the High Court against it.”
He recently launched “Sardar the Game Changer,” on iconic freedom fighter and Iron Man of India Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, which is broadcast once a week on Doordarshan. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur praised the series and proposed telecasting it twice a week. The notification regarding “Teesri Begum” was sent to him by the regional officer of the Censor Board under the same ministry, which also took the film community by surprise.