Pahlaj Nihalani, the chairperson of CBFC, has ordered an inquiry into how a line of dialogue that takes a dig at late singer Mohammed Rafi in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, went unnoticed when the film was viewed by the board.
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The film courted yet another controversy on Wednesday when Mohammad Rafi’s son Shahid Rafi demanded an apology from Ae Dil Hai Mushkil director Karan Johar for ‘insulting’ his father in the film. In the recently released movie, Ranbir Kapoor’s character Ayan, an aspiring singer, tells Anushka Sharma that many people have said that his voice is like Rafi. Sharma replies, “Mohammad Rafi? Woh gaate kam, rote zyada the na?” (Did he not cry more than he sang?).
“It was only after the uproar that the censor board realised they had missed the insult to Rafi saab. Now Karan Johar may be asked to beep out the dialogue from the film all across theatres in India and abroad,” said a source to Deccan Chronicle.
The sanskaari and ever vigilant CBFC shields us from ‘evils’ like a James Bond kiss, socially relevant issues in Udta Punjab, among others. However, taking offence to a harmless jibe on Mohammed Rafi is an all new level. This, coming after Nihalani extended his support to ADHM, after the pre-release issues it faced, leads us to ask, in the words of one of Rafi’s best songs: