Anurag Kashyap’s highly anticipated dark drama Bandar is officially locked for its theatrical release tomorrow, June 5. Marking the filmmaker’s first-ever collaboration with Bobby Deol, the project has already generated massive curiosity among cinema lovers. While the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) cleared the film with an ‘A’ or Adults Only certificate on May 30, it did so only after ordering extensive changes to the film’s gritty dialogue. The good news for fans is that despite the intense nature of the film’s subject matter, the censor board did not demand any visual cuts.
To secure the official censor certificate, the makers had to significantly clean up and modify the film’s raw language. Extreme profanities used throughout the runtime were systematically replaced or muted. For instance, a heavy Hindi expletive was completely swapped out for the rhyming, safe-for-censor word “banjo.” A long list of other explicit insults and adult words in both English and Hindi were replaced with tamer alternatives, including words like “saale”, “haramkhor”, “pagal”, “bloody”, “moron”, “kamine”, and “goddamit”.
Furthermore, some words were completely removed or silenced to meet broadcasting standards. The English profanity “b*****d” was entirely deleted from the audio track. Additionally, a major expletive in the film’s dramatic third act, along with three other abusive words scattered throughout the movie, were strictly muted. The censor board also requested a contextual tweak, asking the filmmakers to modify a specific line of dialogue regarding “sindoor.”
The official censor certificate lists the final runtime of Bandar at 130.27 minutes, which means the crime drama is exactly 2 hours, 10 minutes, and 27 seconds long. During the review process, the filmmakers also had to submit legal paperwork, including documentary evidence proving the plot is inspired by true events. They also provided signed consent letters from real-life celebrities to legally clear the use of their names in the script. Alongside Bobby Deol, the film features a powerhouse ensemble cast including Sanya Malhotra, Sapna Pabbi, Saba Azad, Jitendra Joshi, and Indrajith Sukumaran.
