Calendar Girls postponed by 50 days owing to Censor trouble
Calendar Girls has been postponed by at least 50 days. Originally slated for August 7 arrival, the film has now been pushed ahead to September 25. Even this release date is tentative as the film is yet to close on the exact date.
A major reason for this is a fight that Madhur Bhandarkar may have to put in now, courtesy the changes that have been suggested by the Censor Board. Since the filmmaker isn't willing to take it all lying down, he is planning to approach the revising committee and put forth his case for the suggestions to be rolled back.
Informs our source, "The film has been passed with an 'A' certificate and Madhur is fine with that. However, he is not fine with the 'mute' button that Censors have pressed for words like 'bit$h', 'wh$re', 'fu$k', 'saa!a', 'saa!i' and 'har$$mi'. Rough language goes with the stage and setting that the characters find themselves in, and it is a part of the narrative. Moreover, it isn't as if these words are used a dozen times in the film. It is all sporadic and is heard where it is really required."
Madhur argument is that since the film is for 'adults only' viewing, audiences are expected to be mature enough when these words play.
"This is the reason why he is planning to take the film to the revising committee. This means that there is no way the film can make it to the August 7 release deadline that was earlier set for it. Since the process may well take some time, Madhur felt that it was better for the overall marketing and promotion of the film to have the releases pushed ahead," the source.
This only makes sense that most of the Fridays in the interim period are already booked with biggies, the promotion of which is already on for some time. With August 14 [Brothers], August 21 [All Is Well], August 28 [Phantom], September 4 [Welcome Back], September 11 [Hero] and September 18 [Katti Batti] already blocked, the next date in sight is September 25 which has only one confirmed release so far, Abbas-Mustan's Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon. Since October 2 [Singh Is Bliing, Wazir] and October 9 [Jazbaa] have a line-up in place as well, Calendar Girls has to find a right date in the calendar.
We tried contacting Madhur Bhandarkar to know about the exact plan of action from this point on but he was unavailable for comment.
A major reason for this is a fight that Madhur Bhandarkar may have to put in now, courtesy the changes that have been suggested by the Censor Board. Since the filmmaker isn't willing to take it all lying down, he is planning to approach the revising committee and put forth his case for the suggestions to be rolled back.
Informs our source, "The film has been passed with an 'A' certificate and Madhur is fine with that. However, he is not fine with the 'mute' button that Censors have pressed for words like 'bit$h', 'wh$re', 'fu$k', 'saa!a', 'saa!i' and 'har$$mi'. Rough language goes with the stage and setting that the characters find themselves in, and it is a part of the narrative. Moreover, it isn't as if these words are used a dozen times in the film. It is all sporadic and is heard where it is really required."
Madhur argument is that since the film is for 'adults only' viewing, audiences are expected to be mature enough when these words play.
"This is the reason why he is planning to take the film to the revising committee. This means that there is no way the film can make it to the August 7 release deadline that was earlier set for it. Since the process may well take some time, Madhur felt that it was better for the overall marketing and promotion of the film to have the releases pushed ahead," the source.
This only makes sense that most of the Fridays in the interim period are already booked with biggies, the promotion of which is already on for some time. With August 14 [Brothers], August 21 [All Is Well], August 28 [Phantom], September 4 [Welcome Back], September 11 [Hero] and September 18 [Katti Batti] already blocked, the next date in sight is September 25 which has only one confirmed release so far, Abbas-Mustan's Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon. Since October 2 [Singh Is Bliing, Wazir] and October 9 [Jazbaa] have a line-up in place as well, Calendar Girls has to find a right date in the calendar.
We tried contacting Madhur Bhandarkar to know about the exact plan of action from this point on but he was unavailable for comment.