Kolkata, Apr 21: The Censor Board today refused to intervene in the controversy surrounding the release of the film 'Dum Maro Dum' saying that the matter has been "sorted out".
"We have spoken with everybody, including the women groups, and the matter has been sorted out. Everybody has been appeased," Censor Board chairman Leela Samson told PTI from Chennai.
"The film was cleared long back by us with an 'A' certificate. Now only the press people are trying to rake up the issue," she said when asked about fresh demands against the release of the Abhishek Bachchan-Bipasha Basu starrer movie for allegedly showing Goa and its women in bad light.
Goan MP Shantaram Naik has expressed unhappiness saying that the producers have not removed a controversial dialogue about the tourist state from the international prints of the movie, which releases tomorrow.
Goemchea Ostoreancho Awaz (GOA), a newly formed women's organisation, has also demanded a ban on the Rohan Sippy directed film claiming that it will give a bad name to Goan women and the state.
"The objection was with a particular line in the trailer of the film. That dialogue has been withdrawn by the producers. Therefore, the matter is closed now," Samson said.
Bipasha's dialogue in the film - 'Here in Goa, liquor is cheap but girls are cheaper' - had raised a hue and cry amid fears that it will have a negative impact on the coastal state's booming tourism industry.
Later on the film producers changed the objectionable dialogue in the film after requests from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Earlier, the Panaji bench of Bombay High Court had rejected a petition seeking stay on release of the movie.
However, Congress MP Shantaram Naik has said that Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni was dissatisfied over "adamant attitude" of the makers of Bollywood flick "Dum Maro Dum".
"Soni expressed her dissatisfaction over the stand of the producers/exhibitors to retain dialogues in the prints meant for overseas distribution saying that in the present situation seeking redress from the court, after the release of the film abroad, is the only solution left in order to protect dignity of women," Naik said in a press statement issued in Panaji.
He stated that he had met Soni along with chief minister Digambar Kamat, who had earlier expressed apprehensions based on promos over explicit content in the movie which he said portrayed Goan women in bad light, in Delhi.
The MP said that I& B ministry was seeking to amend section 6 of the Cinematograph Act 1952, which would "empower it to intervene in public interest".
Though Fox Star Studios International Private Limited (FSSIPL) has said that it has suitably changed controversial dialogues in the movie, Naik claimed that the filmmaker was anti-national and in fact retained the dialogues in the international prints of the movie.
Incidentally, Naik's wife Beena is on a state government committee headed by state information secretary to watch the flick prior to its release. The committee, however, outrightly refused to watch the film. PTI
