Sidharth Malhotra’s Aiyaary awaits Censor Board clearance

Defence Ministry has suggested changes in Aiyaary after review.

On Monday, it was announced that the release date of Neeraj Pandey’s espionage thriller Aiyaary has been postponed from February 9 to February 16. While many were speculating that the reason for the same is a clash with Akshay Kumar’s PadMan, it has now been revealed that Aiyaary has failed to receive a clearance from the Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

The Ministry of Defence reviewed the film last week and has suggested multiple changes in the film to the revising committee. Hence, the makers of the film are yet to receive the censor certificate. Questions are being raised against Aiyaary as it has been set against the army backdrop and revolves around the story of an army colonel (Manoj Bajpayee) hunting for one of his rouge proteges, an ex-army major (Sidharth Malhotra).

Directed by Neeraj Pandey, who has films like A Wednesday, Baby, Special 26 and MS Dhoni : An Untold Story to his credit, fans have high expectations from Aiyaary. Apart from Manoj Bajpayee and Sidharth Malhotra, Aiyaary also stars Anupam Kher, Naseeruddin Shah, Rakul Preet Singh and Pooja Chopra in pivotal roles.

Only recently, Malhotra had told mediapersons, “As far as I know, my producers are handling it and it is in the process. They have assured me the film is releasing on time. It is a production aspect and I have complete faith in my team.”