Filmmaker Hansal Mehta recounted how Vivek Agnihotri, then on the CBFC revising committee, fiercely advocated for his controversial 2017 film Omerta, limiting cuts to just two despite initial demands for multiple edits. The biopic on terrorist Omar Saeed Sheikh faced intense scrutiny over its hard-hitting content.

Hansal Mehta reveals Vivek Agnihotri helped limit Omerta cuts to just two: “He fought with the other CBFC members”

A pivotal deleted scene showed Omar peeing in his cell during the Indian National Anthem on Independence Day in jail, exposing his butt amid the anthem and flag-hoisting. CBFC objected vehemently, rejecting Mehta’s defence that it highlighted the terrorist’s anti-India angst, sending it to the revising committee. Mehta was shooting Simran in the US, with son Jai attending the screening.

In a conversation with the Indian Express, Hansal recalled, “They said, ‘You can’t do that over the National Anthem.’ I said, ‘No. You should actually be happy, because this makes you angsty. There’s a Pakistani man. If you have an agenda, then he’s fulfilling your agenda also, no? A Pakistani man, his angst against the Indian state, he’s doing this.’” He further revealed, “They refused. It had to go to the revising committee, where, surprisingly, the man who fought the most for the film, not to get it cut, was Vivek Agnihotri. He was part of the CBFC at that time.”

Hansal continued, “I was in the US, shooting Simran, when this screening happened. So Jai, my son, went for the screening. He said, ‘You know, Vivek Agnihotri is there, all these guys are there.’ And he said Vivek Agnihotri fought with the other members. He was on the revising committee, and he ensured that there were only two cuts.” He concluded by saying, “So I even thanked them. I said, ‘Yeah, thanks.’ Otherwise, they had asked for multiple cuts in the film.”

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