New Delhi: Ajay Devgn’s upcoming action film Chauhan has landed in fresh controversy after viewers noticed that the makers quietly altered the trailer without any announcement. Rather than addressing the criticism surrounding the film, the makers replaced Zeeshan Ayyub’s voiceover and changed Devgn’s rank from “Major” to “Colonel”, while leaving the controversial visuals untouched.
The first trailer, released on 25 June, opened with Ayyub saying, “Major, there were 300 boys on the street; only 270 reached their home; 30 are less.” However, now a new, unnamed voice is delivering the same dialogue.
But the visuals that sparked widespread criticism for showing a riot, mass uprising, as well as flags of Pakistan remain untouched.
Directed by Neeraj Yadav, the film revolves around a police officer who takes charge of resolving a “militant uprising” in Kashmir in 2018, while Devgn plays an army officer fighting stone-pelters in his signature Singham style.
The film has drawn criticism from human rights activists as well as the Kshatriya Parishad, a major socio-political organisation in India dedicated to the Rajput community.
“It is deeply unfortunate that Rajput identity is once again being dragged into a political narrative that Rajputs neither initiated nor sought,” the Parishad said in a statement on 29 June.
The statement further said that invoking a Rajput clan name merely to provoke outrage, inflame caste or communal sentiments, or generate political spectacle is both irresponsible and disrespectful. It added that such attempts betray Indian history, which cannot be reduced to simple communal binaries.
The Parishad stated that it rejects every attempt to weaponise Rajput history and appropriate Rajput identities for electoral or ideological purposes.
“We call upon political actors, filmmakers, and media organisations to engage with India’s past responsibly, respecting historical complexity rather than exploiting Rajput heritage as bait for divisive political debate,” the statement read.
The criticism has not been limited to the film’s title. The trailer also features a narration by Devgn in which he says tear gas is not effective against stone-pelters and that pellet guns cause only “limited damage.”
On 7 June, Al Jazeera criticised the film’s theme and interviewed Firoz Aslam from Kashmir, who lost his vision after being hit by pellet guns a decade ago while running errands. According to the report, Aslam recalled that seven pellets entered his right eye, six his left eye, while more than 300 pellets struck his chest. The report further stated that more than 100 people have lost their vision, either partially or completely, due to pellet gun injuries.
The film is set to release in October 2027.
(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)