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CBFC Asks Film To Delete 'Mann Ki Baat' From Dialogue Because It's Also The Name Of Modi's Radio Show

*Slow clap*.
A picture of the Narendra Modi app.
Hindustan Times via Getty Images
A picture of the Narendra Modi app.

It seems you can no longer say your 'Mann Ki Baat'-- at least not in a movie dialogue.

The Censor Board (or the Central Board of Film Certification), as it is officially called, has demanded a crucial line to be cut from the yet to be released movie Sameer. According to a report in Mid Day, the CBFC has asked director Dakxin Chhara to remove a dialogue by the villain. It goes like this: "Ek mann ki baat kahoon? Tum character accha bana lete ho!"

"They categorically asked for the words 'Mann ki baat' to be removed from the first sentence," Chhara told the newspaper.

When the director approached the Censor Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani, he had a strange explanation for this demand-- "PM ka radio show hai, delete the line."

The film is inspired by the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts. It stars art-house actors Seema Biswas and Anjali Patil.

The director said that despite granting the film an 'A' (adults only) certificate, they have been asked to remove several scenes.

Meanwhile, the Censor Board has created a history in the list of absurdity by asking the makers of the Anushka Sharma-starrer Phillauri to mute a sequence where Suraj Sharma's character recites the Hanuman Chalisa (a Hindu religious text) to ward off the ghost. Why? Because, in the scene the ghost doesn't go away-- and according to the Censor Board, "ghosts are supposed to be eradicated by Hanuman Chalisa not pacified."

Wow.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.