The film 'Manmarziyaan' is in an unusual situation right now - even as it's being lauded for its story, treatment and performances, it has had to face the ire of a section of the Sikh community for smoking scenes in the film.The offending scenes in question includes a 29-second smoking sequence of
Abhishek Bachchan, a minute-long scene featuring
Taapsee Pannu and Abhishek while entering a gurudwara and a 11-second scene of Taapsee smoking.
With the filmmakers taking the decision to cut out three scenes related to smoking in the film following the protests, director
Anurag Kashyap took to social media to express his displeasure, which indicated that he had not been consulted before they took the step.
Responding to the post, producer Aanand L Rai released a statement and defended the stand to cut the scenes film, stating that it did not "compromise" with the narrative or the genre. "These cuts were made on a call taken by Colour Yellow Team. I feel we need to understand that this controversy happened after the film has released which leaves the producers and studio extremely vulnerable (sic)," he reportedly said in a statement.
He also said that had the film been on smoking, they would have taken a stand like they did for 'Udta Punjab'. "'Manmarziyaan' is a love story and we believe that these cuts do not compromise with the genre it is... My heart goes out to Anurag but in the current situation, we have to be practical," the filmmaker said in the statement.
Kashyap was not the only one to express his disappointment at the turn of events. Taapsee also took to Twitter and posted: "I am sure this edit will assure that no Sikh will ever Smoke and no woman will ever think about ANYONE else while getting married in a Gurudwara. THIS surely will make Waheguru proud and assures that MY religion is the purest, most righteous and peaceful ! #Proud."
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