I swear…

Jasmine Singh

The Boys from the Boyzone group only had words... words that could take your heart away. Today, it is still about words, but not the ones that can mush your heart. These are words that will actually drill your heart, for we are talking about words that can land a Hindi film into trouble—the cuss words.

Expletive-laden dialogues are a norm in Hindi films; so much so that many see it as a parameter for originality of the film! As of now, it’s director Abhishek Chaubey’s much-talked about film Udta Punjab, which is in the news for the same reason—expletives. The film has been given a red signal from Central Board of Film certificate (CBFC) for all the swearing and expletive-laden dialogues. Udta Punjab stars Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Punjabi singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh, and is based on the problem of substance abuse in Punjab.

The question (not a new one though) is how much is too much when it comes to throwing a generous amount of cuss words in our films? Films like Gangs Of Wasseypur, Dedh Ishqiya, Delly Belly have made it to news, ‘first’ for the dollops of gaalis and later for the fine acting. Hindi films have certainly gone beyond the ‘F’ word, dialogues now are wrapped in colloquial expletives, something that filmmakers cannot do away with or they can?

Unparliamentary language in Parliament

Most filmmakers do not think they are doing something extraordinary by using cuss words. To them, the so-called elites and highly educated ones use these words in their day-to-day life, knowingly or unknowingly.

Director Anurag Singh of Punjab 1984 fame agrees. “One, usage of expletives should be totally left to the discretion of a filmmaker. If a movie-maker wants to be known by films that has expletives, well, fair enough. At the same time, I don’t think they are inventing any new words; these cuss words are used in day-to-day language by many around. And rest it is the audience’s choice, if they want to watch a film that has such words or not.” Instead of creating a hue and cry over the ‘bad’ and ‘dirty’ words, Anurag feels it is the role of the Censor Board that needs to be defined. “Have you seen the language used in Parliament, and you are saying filmmakers shouldn’t use these words,” he laughs off.

What’s wrong & where

Even when the debate to define the limit (if there is any) for expletives in a film goes on, we have seen filmmakers like Shyam Benegal and others making realistic cinema without the use of such words. So, do we understand that real means real on reel as well, where are all the talks on cinematic liberty now?

Director Vivek Agnihotri of Budhha In a Traffic Jam draws attention of his film, which he says had more expletives than any other film. “I don’t think common people understand how the Censor Board operates. So, when they hear about any film which runs into trouble for the gaalis, they just feel it should be banned.”

You blame me, I blame you

How many times have you gone red in the face when a character on screen spews an expletive in style, making it sound arty! Jatinder Singh, assistant professor, Government College, Chandigarh, wouldn’t blame films. Neither would he blame this generation for taking clues from films that are laced with cuss words. “Films pick up real life situations, and real people sometimes take inspiration from the films, so whom should we blame.” Jatinder finds that many couples get uncomfortable watching all that swearing on screen. “Such people generally go back and say, Yaar us film main bahut gaali hai, don’t go with your parents or kids’.” But how many actually ask for the refund of their movie ticket because they found the movie full of swear words. Finally, it comes down to personal choice, whether you would want to watch a film that reminds of you of that long beeeep sound or you just laugh it off saying it was real cinema!

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