Third time lucky: How 'D-Day' evaded an 'Adult' certificate

The U/A certification handed out to Nikhil Advani's upcoming film after its third preview by the Censor Board seems to have raised some eyebrows

There seems to be more than what just meets the eye in this case. If rumours are to be believed, Nikhil Advani's upcoming action drama D-Day has managed to secure a 'U/A' rating from the Censor Board. According to reliable sources, the CB previewed the film three times in order to reach the consensus of awarding the certification for the film.

Insiders say the film was earlier handed out an 'A' certificate due to the nature of its content.

A source says, `A film's Censor rating can go a long way in determining its fate at the box office. An 'A' certificate film loses out on the family audience. After the initial review of the film along with the recommended cuts, its makers sent it to the forwarding committee and once again received an 'A' certificate.`



Back and forth
However, with just a week to go before its release, we learn that the film was sent once again back to the committee on Saturday for a review. And lo and behold! This time it came out clean with a U/A certificate and without any cuts. `A senior member from the board could have used his/her influence to affect the film's certification,` says the source.

Too much of a coincidence?
Producer of the film, Monisha Advani vehemently denies any foul play, `We have followed the prescribed protocol to secure a 'U/A' certification for our film.

We had been asked to make a series of cuts in our film in order to secure this certification, which we gladly complied with. Therefore any insinuation of foul play or exception is incorrect.` Censor Board chief Pankaja Thakur remained unavailable for comment.


At loggerheads with the board?
Mithun Chakraborty recently was miffed at the alleged mistreatment of his latest production Enemmy by the Censor Board.

Anurag Kashyap spoke out loud against the Censor Board for holding back the release of Paanch.

Grand Masti was censored two months in advance to avoid any last-minute hassles with the board.