Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone starrer 'Pathaan' started making headlines for all the wrong reasons when the film's song 'Besharam Rang' was released in December, 2022. Soon after some section of social media users started objecting the clothes and dance sequence in the song, the chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) Prasoon Joshi admitted that the film has undergone cuts as per the rulebook.
However, according to Bollywood Hungama, now the three changes has been made in the song 'Besharam Rang'. The close up shot of buttocks, 'side pose (partial nudity)' shots and visuals of sensuous dance movements during the lyrics 'Bahut tang kiya' were removed or curtailed and replaced with 'suitable shots'. The CBFC cut list, however, doesn't mention how many seconds of shots have been censored. Also it is not clear whether or not the shots of the orange swimsuit, that led to an uproar, have been retained.
After these changes were made, the CBFC granted the censor certificate to the makers of Pathaan on January 2. The film secured a U/A certificate and its length, as mentioned on the certificate, is 2 hours and 26 minutes long.
The examining committee has also asked for more than 10 cuts in the film, most of which are related to the dialogues. In two places, the word 'RAW' was replaced with 'Hamare' as per the context. 'Langde Lulle' was replaced by 'Toote Foote'. The word 'PMO' was removed while in 13 places, 'PM' was replaced either by President or Minister.
Then, 'Ashok Chakra' was removed and it was replaced by 'Veer Puraskar', 'ex-KGB' with 'ex-SBU' and 'Mrs Bharatmata' with 'Hamari Bharatmata'. In the dialogue 'Isse sasti scotch nahin mili', 'scotch' was replaced by 'drink'. Then a change was made in the text that appears at one point in the film whereby 'Black Prison, Russia' was replaced by 'Black Prison'.
Produced by Aditya Chopra's Yash Raj Films, Pathaan stars Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and John Abraham. It is directed by Siddharth Anand and releases on January 25, 2023.
