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If you look closely at Hansal Mehta’s filmographythere is what one could describe as a Muslim trilogy: Shahid, Omerta and Faraaz. As hard-hitting and politically incisive as these films are, they also deal with subjects that are risky to tackle in today’s socio-political climate, especially Omerta, which chronicled the life of terrorist Omar Saeed Sheikh. Hansal recently, in an exclusive conversation with SCREEN, opened up about how difficult it was to make a film like Omerta and the battles he faced with censorship, with the CBFC demanding multiple cuts. In a particularly acrimonious phase of these negotiations, he found an unlikely ally in filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri.
Recalling a deleted scene that the Censor Board strongly objected to, Hansal said, “There was a scene where the Indian National Anthem is playing in the jail. He’s (Omar) in jail, it’s Independence Day, the entire jail is there, the flag has been hoisted, the National Anthem is on. And this guy has taken off his pants and he’s peeing in his cell. He hasn’t gone out, he’s peeing inside the cell. So, you see his butt, and you see him peeing.”
According to Hansal Mehta, the CBFC objected strongly. “They said, ‘You can’t do that over the National Anthem.’ I said, ‘No. you should actually be happy, because this makes you angsty. There’s a Pakistani man, if you have an agenda, then he’s fulfilling your agenda also, no? A Pakistani man, his angst against the Indian state, he’s doing this.’” However, the board did not relent, and the film was sent to the revising committee. It was here, Hansal revealed, that Vivek Agnihotri played a decisive role in ensuring the film was not heavily censored. “They refused. It had to go to the revising committee where, surprisingly, the man who fought the most for the film, not to get it cut, was Vivek Agnihotri. He was part of the CBFC at that time.”
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Hansal was in the US shooting when the screening took place, and his son Jai Mehta attended on his behalf. “I was in the US, shooting Simran, when this screening happened. So Jai, my son, went for the screening. He said, ‘You know, Vivek Agnihotri is there, all these guys are there.’ And he said Vivek Agnihotri fought with the other members. He was on the revising committee, and he ensured that there were only two cuts.” Hansal added that he even expressed his gratitude. “So I even thanked them. I said, ‘Yeah, thanks.’ Otherwise, they had asked for multiple cuts in the film.”
