Aamir Khan's Sarfarosh clocks 23 years, director reveals Censor Board wanted to cut words like 'Pakistan', 'ISI'

Pic Courtesy: Movie still

New Delhi: The critically-acclaimed film of Aamir Khan, Sarfarosh, not only is loved by fans for his impeccable acting chops but is also hailed for its subject. As the film completes 23 long years today, filmmaker John Matthew Matthan in an interview with Bollywood Hungama recalled his journey during the making of this movie. 

Revealing details about Sarfarosh, John Matthew Matthan said, “The Censors were going to ban the film. They were not letting us release it. I went through hell. Just a few months before my film’s release, the then Prime Minister of India, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, went to Pakistan and a peace treaty was signed by the two countries. Hence, the entire Censor Board was against Sarfarosh as they felt that my film is going against the very concept of trying to be friendly with Pakistan. They were of the belief that those who felt that India can never be friendly with Pakistan are living in another world. I managed to release the film with great difficulty, that too after getting a lot of cuts.”

"The Censor Board members wanted me to remove the word ‘Pakistan’ and ‘ISI’ from the film. My financiers and distributor were behind me and compelled me to accept the cuts. They insisted that I replace ‘Pakistan’ with the words ‘padosi mulk’. I reasoned that ‘Pakistan’ has been mentioned more than 40 times in the film. Hence, this would butcher my film and it was not acceptable to me. I was ready to go even to the Supreme Court. I can’t tell you to what extent the Censor Board went to get my film chopped off and messed up. I stood my ground and I was lucky as I had produced the film myself. Aamir Khan fully supported me. I had informed him of my plans to knock on the doors of the Supreme Court. The Censors realized that I am not going to give up. The film was then released with the words ‘Pakistan’ and ‘ISI’ mentioned, " he quipped. 

He also revealed that a lot of scenes showing violence were cut by the Censor Board eventually. 

The 1999 release Sarfarosh featured Aamir Khan, Sonali Bendre, Naseeruddin Shah, and Mukesh Rishi in lead roles.