New Delhi: Akshay Kumar’s Welcome to Jungle got a U/A 16 certification by the Central Board of Film Certification, but with 18 cuts.
The CBFC cut dialogues, gestures, and even replaced certain words. In the trailer for Ahmed Khan’s upcoming comedy film, characters are seen in army uniforms. The board asked for certain military references to be changed, including “Gorkha Regiment” to “Tum army se ho (Are you from the army)”, and replacing the title “General” with “Officer” or “Sir” throughout the movie.
The film boasts a star-studded cast, including Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, Disha Patani, Jacqueline Fernandez, Paresh Rawal and Arshad Warsi. It follows the story of the making of a fake film, and Kumar plays a Bhojpuri actor who was once a big star in the industry but is now struggling with a series of box-office failures. He then goes on a quest to the jungle to shoot the “film” with his allies and reclaim what isn’t his, the producer’s money. Welcome to Jungle is set to hit theatres on 26 June.
Comedic lines throughout the film were rewritten or toned down. The dialogue “Kaala paida hua hai, koyla hai” was changed to “Saadah paida hua hai, namoona hua hai”, while “Yaad karo kurbaani, munh mein bhari ke paani” became “Jo shaheed hone ja raha tha, uske munh mein bhar lo paani.” Even the infamous “Panni of Kashmir” dialogue was deleted.
Not only were dialogues rewritten or totally removed, but words like “andha (blind)” were replaced with “Dheela (loose),” and the name, “Azharuddin”, was renamed “Allauddin”.
But the CBFC did not shy away from cutting visual elements from the film as well. The official list shows that the makers had to delete and replace “sensual bikini visuals and hip movements” wherever such scenes appeared throughout the film. The statutory film certification body also removed certain scenes featuring Patani and Fernandez from the final cut.
Despite extensive cuts throughout the film, the movie remains lengthy. According to the CBFC certificate, the final runtime of the film is two hours and 44 minutes.
Recently, the CBFC has also taken action on recent films such as Obsession (2026), which was trimmed by almost 38 seconds for its violent sequences, while Chand Mera Dil (2026) had a kissing scene shortened for theatrical release. Even Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar: The Revenge (2026) was cleared for release only after more than 20 cuts.