Nihalani comes to rescue of DK filmmaker

Mangaluru: Twitterati trolled Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chief Pahlaj Nihalani for wielding the scissors indiscriminately on 'Udta Punjab'. But it was Nihalani who came to the rescue of Santhosh Kodenkeri, an ad-film maker turned film director, on his directorial debut, 'Home Stay'.
Kodenkeri's trilingual movie - titled 'Home Stay' in Hindi and Kannada, and 'Dhigil' in Tamil - ran into certification trouble at the regional CBFC office in Bengaluru.This upset the crew's plan of releasing the movie in July-end. Kodenkeri, who is from Sullia in Dakshina Kannada district, told STOI that the regional office offered an 'A' certificate to the Kannada version of the thriller after suggesting five cuts, a UA certificate for Hindi without cuts, and the same for Tamil with two minor "glamour" cuts.
"The five cuts would have jeopardized the continuity of the film and also trampled on our creativity," he said. The tug-of-war with the regional office that started in March 2015 went on for nearly four months. Scheduling problems delayed the launch further.
He then moved the CBFC's reviewing committee. Because they had no officer in Bengaluru, and one had to come from Hyderabad to review the film, there was more delay.
Efforts to get the matter resolved in Mumbai initially met with no success. Kodenkeri then met Nihalani to discuss the cuts.
"The CBFC chief was aghast at the portions deleted, and directed then regional census officer Nagendra Swamy to arrange for a review committee, which certified the film UA with two audio beeps," he said.