CBFC clears the word ‘intercourse’ in Jab Harry Met Sejal, Imtiaz Ali happy

Imtiaz Ali’s Jab Harry Met Sejal was in the news lately when the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) refused to clear the trailer of the film because of the word ‘intercourse' in it. The film has now been passed by the board with a U/A certificate. The Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma starrer has received no audio cuts. This means that the word ‘intercourse’ has also been cleared. 

Ali is grateful to the CBFC. “We are happy with the U/A certificate and no, there was no deletion of any words from the CBFC. There were some visual changes, but there were no audio cuts. And we are happy with it,” he said during the trailer launch of the film in Mumbai. 

Last month, while speaking about the CBFC’s earlier decision of not allowing the word ‘intercourse’ from the trailer, SRK had said that the board might understand the context of the word when they see the whole film. “Maybe out of context things they didn’t like, but when they see the whole film, they will understand the context and hopefully everything will be okay,” he had said. 

Recently, Tigmanshu Dulia’s Raag Desh was also passed without any cuts by the CBFC. “I am happy that the film was passed without any cuts. Raag Desh is a positive film. Right now everything in the country is negative, people are being too negative. People look for negativity in everything. My film is a celebration of our country’s independence,” he said. 

He also mentioned that the board praised the film. “CBFC loved the film and praised it. It’s a good thing. Yes, I was a little scared since you keep reading in the news about CBFC cutting scenes and all. Especially, since mine is not a shava shava type film for NRIs where CBFC would have no problem at all,” he said. 

Dhulia claimed that there is nothing controversial about the film although some people had reservations. “Actually there is nothing controversial about any party or community in the film. Some people said it could be showing Congress in a bad light or Nehru ko kaise dikhaya hai, Netaji ko kaise dikhaya. But its all good,” added the filmmaker.