‘Aiyaary’ starring Sidharth Malhotra, Manoj Bajpayee and Rakul Preet Singh released across India today and has received rave reviews. The film is based on real life incident that revolves around two strong-minded army officers having completely different views, yet right in their own ways. Manoj is the mentor while Sidharth Malhotra plays his protege in the film.
Since it revolves around patriotism towards India, ‘Aiyaary’ has failed to get Pakistan censor board’s clearance. Just like other Neeraj Pandey films, ‘Naam Shabana’ and ‘Baby’, ‘Aiyaary’ too has been banned on the neighbouring country. Before facing these issues in Pakistan, the film had to sail through troubled waters for getting a clearance in India due to its army backdrop. The Ministry of Defence wanted to see the film in order to make sure that the Indian army is projected in a balanced light. When Neeraj was asked about it, he told a leading daily, "We had submitted the film to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) on January 19 and didn’t think it would be an issue. Although the MoD (Ministry of Defence) had always wanted to watch the film, we had told them to route it via the CBFC. I’ve heard it is a common practice by MoD to watch films that feature characters from the defence forces. But we didn’t know that the back-and-forth would take this long. We had no choice but to delay the release."
Did MoD view ‘Baby’ and ‘Rustom’ as they also had characters from the armed forces? On this, Neeraj, said, "No, and I am not sure why they were so interested in this film. Maybe the trailer made them think the film is about a sensitive subject. They didn’t ask for any cuts but we did make some audio changes, for instance, we have muted the word Kargil." He went on to add, "In my case, I would like to believe that the MoD had genuine concerns. But yes, everyone is too sensitive these days, and add to that the power of social media, which allows anyone to have a say. Only one body should have any say in the film’s release, and that’s CBFC."
