Prashanth Neel On Prabhas’ ‘Salaar’ Getting An A Certificate: I Didn’t Make A Vulgar Movie, Was Disappointed

Ahead of the release of ‘Salaar: Par 1 - Ceasefire’ on December 22, director Prashanth Neel and actors Prabhas and Prithviraj Sukumaran recently had a chat with director SS Rajamouli. The trio talked about everything, from the film’s story to how the cast came on onboard. During the chat, Prashanth opened up about ‘Salaar’ getting an adult certificate from the censor board. 

While the film is set in a fictional land of Khansar, which is lawless and riddled with violence, Prashanth mentioned that the idea behind the film is to tell the story of two childhood friends. “This story is all about Deva and Vardha, Salaar is a drama at its core,” he said.

He further added, “I’ve seen Telugu cinema for years now and the violence in my film is pale compared to that. The idea was never to make a film so violent it gets an A. But the guidelines have changed and the censor board asked me to make certain cuts. I got so quiet when they said that because I didn’t make a vulgar movie. The violence in the film is needed. I was disappointed, but Prabhas told me it’s okay.”

Ever since the film’s promotional material released, several fans have wondered if ‘Salaar’ and ‘KGF’ would be linked, considering Prashanth chose the same colour palette for both of them. Responding to that, he said that, “Salaar has nothing to do with KGF. In fact, it wasn’t even a conscious choice to make them look the same.”

The filmmaker further added that he just wanted to show how dark and gritty the world they live in is. “I realised how OCD (obsessed) I am about monochrome only later,” he said.

Prithviraj and Prabhas further jokingly talked about how Prashanth is always keen to use the shades of black too. Prabhas said, “I would ask Prithviraj if he can see a difference because I didn’t. We would just go along with it because the director asked us.”

As for the story of ‘Salaar’, the film is set in the city of Khansar, which is going through a change of power. When Vardha’s ascension is in danger, he takes help from his childhood friend Deva. Shruti Haasan and Jagapathi Babu also star in key roles in the film, with music by Ravi Basrur. 

‘Salaar: Part 1 - Ceasefire’ releases this Friday on December 22.