The producers of the Sanjay Dutt-starrer Knock Out had to get a no-objection certificate from yoga guru Swami Ramdev, since promos of the film had references to him, says a media report.
Mani Shankar's Knock Out starring Sanjay Dutt, Kangna Ranaut and Irfan Khan was stuck at the censor board when its promos were put on a hold for a mention of yoga guru Baba Ramdev.
The censor board asked the producers, AAP Entertainment,to get an NOC from Baba Ramdev. The promos go on air from Monday after Sanjay Dutt's iftar bash,followed by a press conference to unveil the first look of the film.
There was this dialogue in the promo where Irfan asks Sanjay what he wants. Dutt replies that he wants the same thing that Baba Ramdev wants from his followers.
The censor raised an objection to this as it was a reference to a living person.
The makers were in a fix as there was hardly any time for correction.
So,the censor board asked the producers to get an NOC from Baba Ramdev. That's when Mani Shankar got into action and within a few hours they got the NOC from him. However he had to explain his entire film and the reference to context of the dialogue and why it featured in the film and thus in the promos.
Mani Shankar said, “when the censor board raised an objection regarding Sanjay Dutt mentioning Baba Ramdevji's name in the trailer of Knock Out we had very little time to respond.
“The matter had to be resolved within hours as we needed the censor certificate for the trailer the very same day. Fortunately I had made several short films on spiritual themes in the past and had worked closely with leading spiritual gurus of the country.
“I requested Shri HV Prasad, the chief trustee of Swami Ganapathi Sachchidananda in Mysore,to approach Baba Ramdevji with our request. Within a few minutes we had a telephonic conference with their media chief and spokesperson S K Tijarawala.
“When my producer Mr Nag and I explained to him that there was an essential synergy in what Baba Ramdev has been saying about restoring national wealth and the theme of our film and that the reference to Baba Ramdev was very positive we received a no objection letter immediately.
“We are very grateful to Baba Ramdev and Shri Tijarawala to respond so quickly in this matter and come to our rescue”.
