It is quite unnatural that any Akshay Kumar movie would come under the editing scissors of the Central Board of Film Certification of India (CBFC). However, things have not been going smoothly with Akshay Kumar’s movie ‘Oh My God Part 2’ since the day certain scenes from the movie have been aired on several social media accounts. Those scenes have garnered so much disapproval from critics that the Central Board of Film Certification of India had to step in to do the damage control. As is customary with the censor board, they decided to clip off a total of 27 scenes from the movie that they felt are inappropriate and not in line with the theme of the movie and could even lead to serious complications in terms of religious sentiments. The scenes that have been removed from the movie are sexual nudity, unnatural sex, condoms and references that have the potential to flare up Hindu sentiments.

The Controversies and Cuts

As has been seen in several of the movies in the Hindi movie industry recently, it seems that it has become pejorative of the makers of Hindi movies to incorporate such scenes in their movies that could lead to the hurting of religious sentiments, especially, the religious sentiments of the Hindus. Now, whether it is an intentionally crafted strategy to hurt the religious sentiments of one of the most tolerant communities in the entire world or, whether it is an attempt by the makers of the movies to portray themselves as secular, is still unclear. However, whatever be it, Hindi movies possibly are leaving no stone unturned to insult the various religious sentiments, especially, that of the Hindus. Whether it is the recently released ‘Adipurush’ or the yet-to-be-released ‘Oh My God Part 2’, all these movies have been in discussion in recent times for all the wrong reasons.

The movie is starring Akshay Kumar and Pankaj Tripathi as the protagonists after another actor from the first instalment, Paresh Rawal, decided to back out over some personal, some say financial, problems with the makers of the movie. As per the official information that has been received recently, the Central Board of Film Certification of India (CBFC) has ordered the makers of the movie to release the movie with a total count of 27 cuts and alterations in the dialogues combined.

No More Portraying the Lord Shiva

After facing several complaints from Hindu organizations and going by his looks in the movie, the censor board has decided to advise the makers of the movie against portraying Akshay Kumar as Lord Shiva. Not only the complaints made them take such a decision but also going by the looks of Akshay’s character in the movie, it was felt that instead of a divine appearance, he is producing the vibes of a hippie. This has not gone down well with the Hindus and the censor board was quick to react. Instead, now Akshay Kumar will be seen as a messenger of the Lord, who has come down to Earth to help the troubled Pankaj Tripathi’s character in the movie to find the divine guidance of the Lord in his life. It was done after the Hindus complained that how could somebody like Akshay Kumar, who does not fit in the role at all, be allowed to portray God? Also, several scenes from the movie have been toned down by the censor board including the one in, which the messenger of God was seen to be in a drunken state of health. Scenes that have shown Akshay Kumar bathing and meditating as the messenger of God have been pruned and modified to replace them suitably in line with the theme of the movie.

No Display of Frontal Nudity

Since this movie is set to be watched by people from every religious community, especially, the Hindu community, the censor board has decided that they should advise the makers of the movie to replace the scenes of nudity with something appropriate in the movie. Originally, the movie showed the scenes of Naga saints (a group of saints, who have renounced the world in search of divine guidance from Shiva) without clothes. Though the Naga Sadhus generally prefer to remain without clothes as a symbol of their renouncing the world, it was felt by the censor board that the showing of the scene could hurt religious sentiments and better be replaced with somewhat of a more appropriate form of the Sadhus.

No Advertisement of Protective Coverings

The censor board has strictly warned the makers of the movie not to advertise a particular brand of sexual protective covering, the ‘Mood X Condom’ brand and asked the makers of the movie to remove the advertisement of the item from the billboards that have been shown in the movie. They felt that it was extremely inappropriate for the makers of the movie to show such an item in the movie that does not go with the spirit of the movie or, what it has tried to convey.

No Using of the Word ‘Ling’

There have been several mentions of the Hindi word ‘ling’ in the movie to refer to the formless Shiva. However, this attempt has been severely criticized and so the censor board has come forward to replace it with something more appropriate. The Hindi word ‘ling’, if translated to English, means the phallus, whereas the formless Shiva is referred to as ‘Shiv ling’ (the symbol of the God) in Hindi. Thus, the censor board has advised the makers of the movie to replace the word ‘ling’ with ‘Shiv ling’ instead to not flare up religious sentiments.

Not just these but several other scenes from the movie such as a young boy engaged in the activity of physical intimacy, the character of Pankaj Tripathi questioning a sex worker regarding unnatural sex by showing her some sculptures have been removed by the censor board. Certain dialogues from the movie have been altered and removed also. Another controversy was created after the priest of Mahakaleshwar temple in the Ujjain district of Madhya Pradesh demanded that certain scenes from the movie that have been filmed inside the temple are to removed as they violated the religious sanctity of the temple. He even warned of serious consequences if this demand is not met. Thus, the censor board has been quick to remove these scenes from the movie so as not to hurt the religious sanctity of the place.

Therefore, the film has finally got permission from the censor board to be released though it has received an ‘A’ or ‘adult film’ certificate. This is the first time that an Akshay Kumar movie has got an ‘A’ or ‘adult film’ certificate from the censor board. With 27 cuts, the film is set to run for a total duration of 2 hours. The film will star Akshay Kumar and Pankaj Tripathi as the protagonists with Yami Gautam and Arun Govil in pivotal roles.