Raaes director Rahul Dholakia on Besharam Rang controversy: ‘Shah Rukh Khan doesn’t interfere as lot of things aren’t under actors’ control’

After calling out censor board chief Prasoon Joshi for ‘re-censoring Pathaan‘, Raees director Rahul Dholakia has once again spoken about the censor board, its duties and the idea of self-censorship. The filmmaker, while agreeing with the need to self-censor, also said that movies are now being doubly censored due to CBFC, and the hate mongering on social media.

Speaking particularly about the controversial saffron coloured swimsuit donned by Deepika Padukone in Pathaan song “Besharam Rang”, the director told Connect FM Canada, “Agar aurat bikini pehne to tumko problem hai (If a woman wears a bikini, you have a bone to pick with her and the film). Where does this stop? But you look at the film of 60s and 70s, the thought was so progressive. Meanwhile, we are stuck on the colour of the cloth. Where is your ideology, and vision? How are you thinking? How are you going to grow as a country if that is the case? I agree we have to have self-censorship, but here we are getting doubly censored. Censor board is there to give ratings, and not to make cuts. Then we should make only PG-13 films.”

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Elaborating on the “Besharam Rang” controversy, Rahul Dholakia said that the debate was needless as costumes et cetera are not in actors’ control. “A lot of things are not in control of the actor, so blaming them for costume or something else is wrong. It is not their jurisdiction, and knowing Shah Rukh, he doesn’t even interfere. You cannot read everybody’s mind.”

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After “Besharam Rang” was released online, a furor over Deepika’s saffron swimsuit was created, where various BJP members and right-winged outfits wanted Pathaan banned over it. However, the bikini was retained in the final cut of the film.

Pathaan, helmed by Siddharth Anand, also stars John Abraham, Dimple Kapadia and Ashutosh Rana.