Malayalam actor Prithviraj Sukumaran on Monday again apologised for certain inappropriate dialogues against differently-abled persons in his recent film ‘Kaduva’ and said a version of the movie without the objectionable dialogues has been submitted to the censor board for re-certification that would be sent to the exhibition systems for upload as soon as it is received. The actor, at a press conference held in the state capital, said the decision to remove the dialogues was taken on Saturday after he and others involved in the making of the film came to know about the huge backlash on social media over certain dialogues. To show a print with the inappropriate content removed, the censor board’s recertification is required and since the authority does not work on Sunday, the same was sent on Monday and the approved version is expected to be received during the day, he said. As soon as it is received, it would be sent to the exhibition systems for upload tonight itself, he added. He said while they have no control over theatres abroad, they will send the corrected version to distributors overseas and will keep following up with them with requests to replace the earlier content with the latest one. The actor also clarified that the intention behind the scene or dialogues in question was never to humiliate the differently-abled or hurt their feelings. In a scene in the movie which was released on July 7, the protagonist played by Prithviraj, was seen making inappropriate comments against differently-abled persons and their parents. Following huge backlash on social media over the movie dialogue, Parivaar, an association of parents of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities, had moved the State Commission for Persons with Disabilities. The State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities has issued notices to filmmaker Kailas and producers Supriya Menon and Listin Stephen seeking an explanation for the derogatory dialogues. Kailas, had soon thereafter, tendered a “heartfelt apology” on Facebook regarding the matter. “I tender a heartfelt apology for the remarks that hurt the parents of differently abled children in the movie Kaduva, directed by me. That dialogue in the movie was a mistake. I would request everyone to forgive me as it was human error. Neither did scriptwriter Jinu who penned the dialogue, nor did actor Prithviraj, nor I, who shot the scene, realised its possible connotations,” Kailas wrote in his Facebook post. Sharing Kailas’ post, Prithviraj had also posted an apology on Facebook. “Sorry. It was a mistake. We acknowledge and accept it,” the actor wrote. Numerous posts calling out the remarks became viral on social media.
