Mute reference to Ram, censors tell director of Meghnadbadh Rohoshyo, Anik Dutta

The release of Anik Dutta’s much-awaited thriller, Meghnadbadh Rohoshyo, has been pushed back by a week thanks to the censor board suggesting that ‘Ramrajya’ and two others words be beeped out of the film.
The censor’s objection to ‘Ramrajya’ — which is generally an innocuous reference to a state of public harmony and bliss — is a scary proposition in a country already buffeted by raging debates on cow slaughter and saffronisation of public life.Filmmakers have also had to put up with a hyperactive censor board in recent years. The other two words in Anik’s film that faced objections are ‘bandh’ and ‘penis’. The film will now release on July 21.
Said a source close to the film, “The board had an issue with the way Ramrajya surfaced in a dialogue and asked the makers to mute ‘Ram’.” The film’s team, which doesn’t want to spark off a new debate, is keeping things low key. “The online process of censor
certification took some time. We were a bit delayed in submitting the film. That’s why we have decided to bring the film next week,”
said Anik.
One of the producers of the film, Firdausul Hasan, confirmed that “Ramrajya, penis and bandh” are the three words the censor objected to. While the local censor board officials refrained from commenting on the issue, CBFC CEO Anurag Srivastava, who has not watched the film himself, said, “If there are problems, the makers should approach the review committee.” The team, however, is not making any such move.
This is not the first time that Meghnadbadh Rohoshyo, which stars Abir Chatterjee, Gargee RoyChowdhury, Sabyasachi Chakraborty and Vikram Chatterjee, is in the news for things other than cast and content. The film’s poster kicked up some dust as it has the word, kabya, struck off and replaced by ‘rohoshyo’, while Anik’s name overlaps with Michael Madhusudan Dutt’s. Some in Tollywood took offence to Anik referencing the great 19th century poet and his most famous work in the poster.
Even before the controversy died down, Vikram got arrested and was sent to 14 days’ judicial custody in the Sonika Chauhan death case. He has not been available for the film’s promotions. But with Bhooter Bhobishyot (2012), Anik gave Tollywood one of its biggest blockbusters in recent years. His latest film, a thriller, has generated a lot of buzz already.