Censor asks Pakistan reference to be muted in ‘Total Siyapaa’

The dialogue that the Censor Board Of Film Certification (CBFC) wanted changed went, ‘Hum Pakistan Ko Lete Rehte hain’.

Says director E Niwas, “They wanted us to beep out the word ‘lete’ . Instead I chose to change the entire line. The character now says, ‘Hum Pakistan se ladte rehte hain.’

Other cuts included visuals and sounds of love-making on the soundtrack.

Says Niwas, “They asked us to remove a suggested sex scene in a work-place and some sounds of pleasure during love-making. ‘Why do you want to spoil the fun mood with suggestive stuff?’ I had no objection to making the modifications.”

Niwas says he’s relieved by the censor’s easy going attitude. “We expected a lot more objection. But the censor board saw that we were not doing a serious take on Indo-Pak relations. It’s a very light take on the relations between the two countries. The message is there. But this isn’t Henna, Veera Zara kind of intense romance across the border. It is not a film with a political agenda behind the love story. We adapted a Spanish film Seres Queridos into an Indo-Pak format for the comic conflict. I am glad the censors have a sense of humour.”

Now the film has to sail through the Pakistani censor board before it releases there.