India’s Scissorhands have spoken. Changes will have to be made in Deepika Padukone-Shah Rukh Khan’s Besharam Rang song from the upcoming film Pathaan, said the Central Board of Film Certification’s examination committee. The movie is set to be released on 25 January 2023.
After weeks of brouhaha reducing national politics to the offending colour of a bikini, Prasoon Joshi, CBFC chairman, assured in his statement that the committee has taken “a balanced and holistic view” of the matter. He also added that the committee has “stayed unbiased” when it comes to the colour of the costumes in the movie.
Everyone is mystified over what cuts will be made and how the song will be rescued. Even as the head-scratching goes on, singer Arijit Singh’s cancelled Kolkata concert has gained a political overtone.
The BJP alleged that the real reason Singh’s concert was cancelled was because he sang ‘Rang De Tu Mohe Gerua’ from Dilwale (2015) at the inauguration of the Kolkata International Film Festival, in front of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The BJP sees the cancellation of the concert as an attempt at ‘anti-saffronisation’ by the TMC supremo.
This is why the colour gerua or saffron is the ThePrint’s Newsmaker Of The Week.
Whichever way you look at it, how you wear the ‘gerua rang’ has been added to the list of things that offend and hurt Hindu sentiments. The list is getting longer. It began with beef, Mughal street and city names, a Surf Excel ad showing Hindu and Muslim kids playing Holi, and Fabindia’s use of Urdu phrase to promote its Diwali collection.
Also read: Modi govt and SC are locked in a battle where each wants to set the boundary for the other
‘Sentiments hurt’
Two days after the song’s release, Madhya Pradesh home minister Narottam Mishra expressed his objection. “The costume used in the song is highly objectionable. The filming of the song in such a manner reveals a polluted mindset.”
He also accused Deepika Padukone of being a supporter of the so-called ‘tukde tukde gang’ over her attendance at a JNU protest in the past. “I appeal to the makers of the upcoming movie to rectify or remove the objectionable scene and costume from the song, failing which the film may not be allowed to be screened in MP,” the BJP minister said.
Mishra found an unlikely ally in Congress MLA Govind Singh, who also called the song an obscene portrayal of women.
The controversy may have started with the colour of Deepika’s bikini, but it quickly escalated to the choice of colour of Shah Rukh’s shirt as well, which is green. Mishra didn’t even spare the actor’s Vaisnho Devi visit. “It is a good thing, but on one side they go for darshan and on the other side they bring women in bikinis; that is not right.”
Karnataka’s Sri Ram Sena also urged the production house of Pathaan to roll back the Besharam Rang song or face a boycott. Its founder Pramod Muthalik alleged that such films “create mindset of ‘love jihad’ and rapes.”
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Jitendra Chouhan, however, told The Free Press Journal that if the colour of Deepika’s bikini is changed, they would have no objections to the release of the film. But the political outfit would continue with their broader campaign against films that supposedly hurt the sentiments of Hindus.
Also read: Indians transfixed on gory details of Shraddha Walker murder case are losing sight of facts
Attacks and counterattacks
When actresses have worn bikinis in films, controversy has erupted time and again. From Dimple Kapadia’s iconic bikini in Bobby (1973) to Sharmila Tagore and Taapsee Pannu, Bollywood actresses have faced “culture” ire in the form of trolls. But no controversy had yet reached the saffron and political debate.
The Trinamool Congress introduced a new angle as attacks on the film mounted, with a free fall of interpretation about the colours worn by Deepika and Shah Rukh, and extended to the way the song was shot.
An old video of Union Minister Smriti Irani, in which she is seen wearing a saffron-coloured dress for her Miss India beauty pageant in 1998, has now stoked the fire. Among others, the video was also uploaded by TMC MLA Riju Dutta. He, however, clarified that he has no objection to Irani’s choice of outfit and only wanted to highlight what he calls “moral policing”, “selective hypocrisy,” and hatred toward other women by the BJP.
The ‘anti-saffron’ campaign
Even as the saffron debate on Pathaan rages on, in Kolkata, another gerua debate has reared its head. Singer Arijit Singh’s concert in Kolkata was recently cancelled due to G20 events. But the BJP spun a saffron yarn behind TMC’s reason.
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh hit out at the BJP for “politicising” the issue. He clarified that the programme was cancelled on 8 December, a week before Arijit Singh sang at the Kolkata film festival.
One can find proof in the most absurd theories if one looks hard enough. At this moment, BJP’s politics seems to be reduced to looking for offences against bhagwa rang (saffron colour) more than anything else.
(Edited by Tarannum Khan)