A still from the movie
The Revising Committee of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has cleared the lesbian kiss scene in Margarita With a Straw, according to a report in the Mumbai Mirror. However, the Revising Committee has asked to tone down by 50% a 16 second straight sex scene as “too much ho raha hai“.
The Censor Board had initially objected to a 12 second kiss scene between Kalki Koechlin and another actress, as well as to two other scenes – one where Kalki shows her middle finger, and another where a male character is shown removing her undergarments so that she could use the washroom. In the movie, Kalki plays a rebellious young woman with cerebral palsy who leaves her home in India to study in New York, unexpectedly falls in love, and embarks on an exhilarating journey of self-discovery.
An elated Shonali Bose, director of the movie, told Mumbai Mirror that although they would ideally not have wanted to cut even a single scene, but they agreed so as not to have any further delays in the release. “With the release scheduled for April 17, we didn’t want to delay things and accepted the cut. Ideally, a filmmaker shouldn’t be made to edit his or her film.”
Regarding scenes involving frontal nudity, Shonali said, “We exercised self censorship and submitted a version which didn’t have those scenes. The Censor Board in India would have never let them go through. Overall, I’m pleased with the Revising Committee. It has shown remarkable maturity and my film is pretty much intact.”
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