The Akshay Kumar-Saif Ali Khan thriller lost no action visuals in the censor process, only a handful of words replaced ahead of its September 11 release.
Haiwaan clocks in at 164.07 minutes, or two hours, 44 minutes and seven seconds, according to the length stated on its censor certificate. That's the number the Central Board of Film Certification has now made official, and it comes with a short list of edits attached.
Bollywood Hungama, reporting exclusively on the cuts, said the CBFC's Examining Committee asked for a handful of changes before clearing the Priyadarshan-directed thriller with a U/A 16+ certificate on September 8. None of it touched the action.
Here's what actually moved. A visual near the start of the film was, in the board's own phrasing, 'suitably modified.' In the second half, a word was deleted and swapped for 'Kamina.' Post-interval, a term the board flagged as derogatory was dropped and replaced with 'Girlfriend.' Somewhere in the middle stretch, a full sentence considered derogatory was cut and replaced with the line 'Dimaag ki vaat laga ke rakh di.'
That's it. No footage was excised. The fight sequences, the ones Saif Ali Khan has spoken about shooting himself, stay intact end to end, per Bollywood Hungama's report. For a film that's been selling itself on its action first and its cast second, that matters more than the dialogue tweaks probably will.
Haiwaan has been building noise for a while now, mostly on the strength of who's in it. Akshay Kumar and Saif Ali Khan headlining together is reason enough for a trade story on its own, and Priyadarshan's name attached to the direction adds the kind of pedigree that makes exhibitors pay attention. Shriya Pilgaonkar and Sayami Kher round out the principal cast. The trailer, when it dropped, did the rest of the work, front-loading enough intrigue that the censor cuts were always going to be a footnote rather than a headline of their own.
Word swaps like these are routine enough in Hindi cinema right now. What's slightly more notable is how little got cut. A film this length, running past two hours forty, clearing with just three dialogue tweaks and one modified visual is a relatively clean pass by CBFC standards for a mass-audience action thriller pitched at a 16+ rating.
Haiwaan opens in theatres on September 11. With the certificate now locked and the runtime confirmed, the only number left to watch is the one that shows up at multiplex box offices this Friday.
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