Senna Hegde’s Avihitam joins long list of Malayalam movies to face off with the CBFC with mandated cut to the reference ‘Sitha’ from the film

This particular line is used to refer to the heroine of the movie by another character. The film, which satirizes the moral policing and implicit prejudices against married women, is Senna Hegde’s follow-up to Thinkalazhcha Nishchayam, 1744 White Alto, and Padmini. The latest recommendations from CBFC have ignited a discourse on social media, with most comments being against the decision to cut lines that are used in a different context in the film.

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The film stars Unni Raj, Renji Kankol, Vineeth Chakyar, Vrinda Menon, and Ammini Chandralayam in important roles. Avihitam is in good company with regard to the recent tussles with CBFC with films like Shane Nigam’s Hal (which got recommended 15 cuts), which included the removal of words like ‘beef biriyani’. The courtroom drama JSK starring Suresh Gopi in the lead also had an unfortunate run-in with the CBFC, which asked to change the film’s title in reference to the word ‘Janaki’.

Mohanlal starrer L2 Empuraan directed by Prithviraj Sukumaran, kicked off this trend with a whopping 24 voluntary cuts by the filmmakers themselves in re-censoring in its narrative as it was deemed to be hurting the religious sentiments of a section of society. Only time will tell the next course of action for the ‘avihitam’ makers, whether they will be complying with the mandated cut or taking it to court.

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