Forget cuss words, you can't say lesbian: CBFC on Dum Laga Ke Haisha

The Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC) muted deleted/muted at least words from the Ayushmann Khurrana-Bhumi Pednekar-starrer Dum Laga Ke Haisha, including 'lesbian'.

The Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC) reportedly deleted/muted at least four words from the Ayushmann Khurrana-Bhumi Pednekar-starrer Dum Laga Ke Haisha, one of them being 'lesbian'.

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Twitter and other social media platforms were abuzz with reports of CBFC deleting the word lesbian from Sharat Katariya's directorial debut.

Just a few weeks ago, CBFC had issued a list of words to be banned in Indian films, which listed mostly cuss words. Though the list was not something that was commendable, even by CBFC's standards, how can they club lesbian with abusive words?

Picture shared by a popular blog moifightclub.

Reacting to the development, CBFC board member Ashoke Pandit tweeted, "Came to know through news papers & if it's true then muting 'Lesbian' in a film is shameful, I condemn it. #freedomofexpression".

A popular blog that has also shared a picture of the CBFC's certificate for Sharat Katariya's Dum Laga Ke Haisha, writes about the scene where 'lesbian' had to be muted, "When the female lawyer is consoling Sandhya at the court and touches her face lovingly, her younger brother says – ‘Mummy… didi lesbian toh na hoti jaari?’ Mummy says ‘Ye kya hota hai?‘ and then the brother says ‘Bade shehron ki bimaari hai.’

This comes at a time when films like Navdeep Singh's NH10 and Hansal Mehta's Aligarh are in news. While NH10 is the story of the goonland where a woman (Anushka Sharma) has to survive in a bloody, gory and cruel world, Aligarh is loosely based on author and linguist Ramchandra Siras' life with Manoj Bajpayee playing the lead character who is gay.

What is in store for movies like these? As of now, we need to wait and watch.