CBFC Replaces ‘Donald Trump’ with ‘Pump Trump’ and ‘Dawood Ibrahim’ with ‘Pakistan Don’ in Anurag Kashyap’s Kennedy
Its a long haul to hear about the film Kennedy the much awaited film from the ace filmmaker. Well, so after a long wait, Anurag Kashyap’s Kennedy is set to release tomorrow, Friday, February 20. The acclaimed neo-noir drama premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival and was later screened at the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre. A month after the successful screenings, the film received its censor certificate. Here’s a look at the cuts mandated by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).Kennedy was granted an ‘A’ certificate by the CBFC, but the Examining Committee requested several edits.
The expletive “motherf*****” was muted in both dialogues and subtitles. References to “Donald Trump” were altered to “Pump Trump.” Visuals featuring fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, along with the dialogue “Dawood Ibrahim ne…1993 mein,” were removed and replaced with the term “Pakistan Don.”In the first half, a 14-second scene containing degrading dialogue “Matunga, Matunga… Pungi bajaao” was also cut.
At the same time, the CBFC mandated that the anti-smoking static message be displayed during all smoking scenes. Following these changes, Kennedy received its censor certificate on November 23, 2023. The film’s runtime is listed as 148 minutes and 54 seconds (2 hours, 28 minutes, and 54 seconds).Starring Rahul Bhat and Sunny Leone, Kennedy is set during the Covid era and follows an ex-cop presumed dead, who secretly works for a corrupt Mumbai commissioner while driving a luxury app-based cab.
In December 2025, Kennedy became the only Indian film selected for Letterboxd’s Video Store launch, making it available to viewers in 23 countries via a TVOD model—though India was excluded. Last month, in January 2026, it was announced that Kennedy would premiere on Zee5. Stay tuned to know more about it and others only with us and if you have anything to share do comment below and share your thoughts.
