As his upcoming film Aur Devdas — a hard-hitting political take on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s romantic-tragedy — gears up for its release soon, Indian director Sudhir Mishra says he is not bothered by recent censorship issues.
The filmmaker, who earlier faced censor board problems for his movies Dharavi (1992) and Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi (2005), said censorship is an old issue.
“I am not worried about censorship, it is my country and I will fight for what I want. It is not as if censorship is beginning now, everybody is thinking it is happening now but we have problems all the time and you have a way of handling it,” Mishra said.
The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) locked horns with Bollywood over recent decisions including the removal of the word lesbian from Dum Laga ke Haisha and denying the primary clearance to Hollywood erotic romance Fifty Shades of Grey.
The board also delayed the release of Anushka Sharma’s NH10 by objecting to certain scenes in it.
The film industry has also been battling with the new list of 28 banned swear words issued by the CBFC.
Mishra, along with other prominent Bollywood celebrities such as Aamir Khan and Deepika Padukone, met the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore to raise their concerns.
“When I made Dharavi, I was denied the right to exhibit. When I made Hazaaron, it had censor issues but not any other problem. I make films with the confidence that it is my country and I can say whatever I want to,” he said.
Mishra, whose last release was Arjun Rampal and Chitrangda Singh film Inkaar, has kept his fingers crossed for the release of Aur Devdas.
“Aur Devdas is my most hard hitting film yet. Hopefully there will be no issue with it. The shooting is finished,” the director said.
Starring Rahul Bhat, Aditi Rao Hydari and Richa Chadha in lead roles, Aur Devdas is expected to hit theatres in September.
