KOCHI: Amid pressure from right-wing groups, the makers of Empuraan have deleted 24 scenes, including changing the antagonist’s name from Bajrangi to Baldev, removing the ‘NIA’ nameplate from the car, altering Hindu religious structures, and cutting a scene involving violence against a pregnant woman.
The total removal of 2.08 minutes from the film follows backlash from the Sangh Parivar, including the RSS, who claimed the film depicted the 2002 Gujarat riots without showing the Godhra train burning incident that triggered the violence.
The makers of the Mohanlal-starring movie also removed a thanks card to BJP MP and actor Suresh Gopi. The re-edited and re-censored version of the film is expected to be released from Tuesday evening or Wednesday, according to sources, though there is still no clarity on this.