Not true that Chef got U/A certificate because a divorcee is smoking: Director Raja Krishna Menon

Various news reports have been floating around about director Raja Krishna Menon’s Chef being given a 'U/A' certificate because a divorcee (Saif Ali Khan) is shown smoking. However, Menon has rubbished all such reports as false.

In an exclusive conversation with Cinestaan.com, he said, “It’s not so dramatic, yaar. I think the press is making it a little more dramatic than it should be. What the CBFC said is that, in their rules, if you show smoking and alcohol scenes, then the film automatically gets a 'U/A' certificate and it cannot be given a 'U' certificate. Then your film cannot qualify for a 'U' certificate. This is the main reason.”

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He added that a section of the media was wrongly attributing the 'U/A' certificate to the fact that Khan's character is a divorcee. “It’s not about him being a divorcee. Most people are not even checking with me and just printing it,” he added.

Menon also said that the CBFC members who saw Chef have liked it. “The CBFC liked the film. They were very positive. They said they got to see a good film after a long time. They were happy. They did say that the subject is a bit serious, which is surprising since it is not,” he added.

Chef is adapted from Jon Favreau’s Hollywood film of the same name. The film is all set to be released tomorrow.