CBFC restores previous cuts of 'Saala Khadoos'

Another film escapes the Censor's knife: Sudha Kongara's Saala Khadoos. According to sources, the Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC) ordered three cuts, including the title, where the abusive word 'Saala' is used.

Says a source, “But producer Raj Kumar Hirani got in touch with his friends in the I&B (Information and Broadcasting) Ministry and requested that the cuts be restored.The next thing the CBFC knew, it was ‘told’ by the Ministry to allow the title. Two other cuts were also restored. In one of the verbal cuts, someone makes a snide comment about a woman with an ‘itch between her legs’. The CBFC objected strongly to the a woman’s sexuality being referred to in this crass way.” Apparently that derogatory reference to a woman has also been restored on the I & B’s direct intervention.

 It must be said in the defence of Saala Khadoos that the word 'saala' has been a prominent and accepted part of Hindi cinema’s language. Thirty years ago, Bollywood’s most respected actor Dilip Kumar lip-synced to 'Saala Main To Saab Ban Gaya' in Sagina. And as recently as three years ago, Sudhir Mishra’s film Yeh Saali Zindagi was certified and released.